Second Attempt
by JeckTheParadox
Summary: Wealth, Fame, Power. Monkey D. Luffy had come so close acquiring it all. But along the way, he lost those people most precious to him. He found the answer to his problems in the form of a Devil Fruit User with the power to send things back in time. But his first surprise came about when he found himself staring into his own, younger, eyes. None of this would go as planned.
1. Two Luffys!

"What the hell are you talking about?"

" _ **Zoro!**_ " Luffy blubbered, nearly wrapping himself around the swordsman, still tied to a pole. " _ **Yuur alibe!**_ " He managed through his tears, sobbing into the man's chest.

"Get off me!" He jerked his body, trying to dislodge the man, but nothing was working.

"Hey! Guards!" Zoro called. "Get this lunatic out of here!"

The marines quickly showed up at the disturbance, rifles ready.

"Sir, are you attempting to free the prisoner?"

"Whuh?" The other Luffy asked, turning away from Zoro for a second before reexamining him. "Oh yeah! You're still tied up!" He immediately got to work on the knots.

"Hey! Stop that! I made a bet, if I survived a month without food, tied to this pole, they'll let me go."

"Nah, I can't wait a month!" He thought back, biting his lip. "And I think they were gonna kill you anyway, or something?"

"What?" Zoro asked, shocked. "No, you're just a lunatic, what would you know. Stop untying me!"

"I can't just leave you here." Luffy pleaded. "We need to get back onto the ocean, to meet with all the others!"

"What others?"

"You know! Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, Brook, Franky, Jimbe, Carrot!"

"I don't know anyone going by any of those names!"

"Hahah! Sure you do, they're your family, our comrades! Crew Mates!"

"I honestly have no idea about anything you're talking about."

"What- but... Oh yeah!" Luffy slapped himself across the forehead. "I'm back in the past! I forgot! We didn't do that yet! Okay, okay, so, I picked you up here, and then we went out to sea, and I got eaten by a bird, and then we met Nami on the island the bird dropped me! And then I beat up Buggy, you remember Buggy, right?"

Zoro blinked, taking a second to realize the lunatic in front of him had asked him a question. "Uh, fifteen million beli bounty? A clown guy?"

"See! You remember!" Luffy grinned madly. "This is going to be amazing, we'll get to do it all over again!"

"Hey, don't just ignore us." The marine growled. "You're under arrest for attempting to-" a glare from Luffy had the marine's eyes roll back, showing the whites, as his mouth foamed.

The entire group of soldiers simply collapsed, no match for his Conqueror's Haki.

Zoro stared in awe, but Luffy simply turned back to him. "So! Are you up for it, Zoro?"

"Up... Up for what?"

"Being a pirate again! We never reached the One Piece, but we were so close! I know we'll get farther this time!"

"I'm a Pirate Hunter, not a pirate. Besides, I have my own dreams." He felt nervous now, glancing behind him, back at the bodies, but he wouldn't let anyone intimidate him.

"The world's greatest swordsman, eh?" Luffy asked. Zoro looked up in shock. "I know, because we did it before. You lost to Mihawk once, and then you made a promise to me, to never, ever lose again." All the joy disappeared from Luffy's face, and it seemed like the air became colder. "You broke that promise. All of you did." Luffy reached over, and grabbed the wooden pole that Zoro was tied to. With a slight sheen of Armament, he simply tore it apart, his fingers cutting through simple wood like butter. Zoro fell free, and Luffy pulled off the rope that was now simply hanging loose around him. "But I forgive you. I can't stay mad at all of you!" He dragged Zoro into another hug. "It's been so hard, I thought you were all dead! You were all dead, so I looked for a way to bring you back, and I couldn't, until..." he wiped away newly forming tears. "...Until I found someone who could send me back here! Let's do it over again, and have even more fun!"

"Wh-What are you?"

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy! And I'm going to be King of the Pirates this time!" He reached forward, and grasped Zoro's hand. "And you're my First Mate! Roronoa Zoro, and you're going to be the greatest swordsman! As the King of all the seas of the world, I can't have anything less!"

The bounty hunter didn't know what to say. Usually when people learned his ambition, they laughed at him. So many people he had cut up for that! But this man... Zoro couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something so... honest about the man. He sounded insane, but he didn't sound _insane_. Strange things happened in the Grand Line, everyone said so.

"Was I really part of your crew?"

"Yeah."

"How... how far did we get?"

"Almost to the end." Luffy said sadly. "But not quite."

"Did... Did I beat Mihawk?"

Luffy opened his mouth, before shutting it and looking at Zoro. "...You don't remember?"

"No." Zoro said earnestly. "Not at all."

Luffy looked saddened, before steeling himself and placing both hands on Zoro's shoulders. "If... If that Zoro did or not, it doesn't matter! Because you still need to do it!"

"...What?"

"If I told you that the first Zoro did it, would that make you think your goal was accomplished? If I told you that he couldn't do it, would you give up?!"

"N-No!"

Luffy grinned. "You sure?"

"Yes! I'm sure."

"Really?"

"Tell me!"

"You didn't." Luffy said, and before Zoro could begin to get sad, or angry, Luffy continued. "But you could have."

"..."

"..."

"That's not an answer you bastard!"

* * *

"Um..." Coby began, staring in horror. Next to him, _his_ Luffy stood, somehow looking even more confused. If there was anything Coby learned in their short time together, Luffy basically was always the strangest thing in whatever situation they were stuck in. Nothing phased the pirate.

Well, technically, the strangest thing still was Luffy, in a way.

A little girl placed a step ladder next to them, making her way up to try and bring some food out to the bounty hunter who saved her life, when she stopped and stared at the same thing the other two were. She glanced to the side, looking at Coby. "What's going on?" She whispered.

"I have no clue." He said.

"Is... Is that me?" Luffy asked.

"I mean, it looks like you." Coby replied. "You know, except..."

"Bigger."

"Yeah."

"And musclier!"

"That's... that's not a word."

"And look at all those cool scars!" Luffy said, grinning. "I'm gonna go talk to him!"

"No! Don't go in there!" Rika shouted. "The Marines will kill you if they catch you! Axe-Hand Morgan doesn't let anyone get away with breaking the rules!"

"Yeah, Luffy, just, I bet he'll come out of the yard, and then we can talk to him... do you have a brother or something?"

"Yeah!" Luffy said, smiling wide. "His name is Ace! He's a pirate too, and super strong."

"Cool. Is... is that him?"

"What? No! Of course not!" Luffy asked, insulted. "That's me!"

"But you're you!" Rika added.

"There are two of me." Luffy said, as if only realizing it that moment. "That's awesome! I'm going to ask him to join my crew!"

"He's more muscly." Rika said, pointing at him. "Maybe _you_ should join _his_ crew."

Coby watched with more acceptance than disappointment as Luffy got into an argument with an eight-year-old girl. It was evenly matched, in terms of logic. Perhaps only a slight advantage on the girl's side.

"Whatever, either way, I want to meet him." Luffy pointed at Rika's riceballs. "And you still want to give Zoro that, right?"

"Yeah!" The girl hopped over the fence, and Luffy followed. They both walked on the opposite side of the pile of unconscious marines, aiming for the two bizarre men. "Mister Pirate Hunter!" Rika shouted, walking up to them.

"Ah! The little girl!" the older Luffy said, ecstatic. "And her rice balls!" He grabbed them from her. "That's funny, last time, Helmeppo came outside and caught you, and then he smashed them into the dirt." He turned and smiled widely at Zoro. "But you ate the rice ball anyway. That's how I knew you were the right person for my crew."

"Helmeppo?" Rika asked, scared. "He's the one who let the dogs attack me, Mister Pirate Hunter saved my life. It's why he... was... stuck here."

On cue, Helmeppo walked out into the yard. All four of them turned to look at the man and his two guards. The captain's son would have been outraged, to see Zoro free, and so many people trespassing. But he was more concerned with the dozens of unconscious marines. He turned on his heel, running back to the base. "Sound the alarm! Call daddy! Tell him that there are people breaking out Zoro! And they beat up Marines!"

"Huh." Zoro began. "That... was eerie. There might be something to that time travel thing you're spouting."

"Time travel!" The younger Luffy said, shocked. "That explains it!"

"Explains whaaaaaaa-" older Luffy finally looked at his younger self, and found himself with his mouth hanging wide open, not really sure of what to do.

Zoro looked between the two of them. "Is... is this your brother?"

"NO!" Both Luffys shouted. "That's me! I mean, you're me! It's I!" They growled at each other. "Stop it!"

"And that just about proves it, doesn't it?" Zoro said, mostly to himself. He almost started to laugh, it was all so bizarre. He would have begun laughing, and it would have been a long time before he stopped, but his gurgling stomach and lack of swords in his sash told him that he had other things to worry about. "Uh, hey."

Older Luffy turned around immediately, forgetting his rage at the younger. "Yeah?"

"I need my sword-"

"Oh yeah! I forgot, the first time around I was gonna hold them hostage!" Older Luffy said, smiling. "And I'd give you your swords back if you joined my crew. And you did! And I did."

"Wait, wait, wait." Younger Luffy said, a mischievous glint appearing in his eye. "Are you saying that Zoro will joint he crew of the first person to bring him his swords?"

"Yep, that's how it happened last time."

"Wait, this isn't some race, care to explain why there are two of you-" but the younger had taken off, cackling.

"I'll get the swords, and the Zoro will join me, and I'll be the Captain Luffy!" The younger declared.

The older gasped, shocked at this turn of events. "But I'm the captain!" He raced after himself, smashing into a window in a desperate search for swords. He had forgotten exactly where he found them the last time. But he'd get to them eventually.

Coby climbed over the fence, gathering his courage, as he walked into the yard. In the Shells Town marine base sirens, bells, and alarms were going off. The sounds of men being mobilized was only overshadowed by the sounds of crashing as two Monkey D. Luffys barreled through the base looking for three Katana.

* * *

Notes - You've all heard it before. Luffy reaches the end of the Grand Line, but tragedy befalls him, and so he goes back in time to try again, relive his old adventures, and try to set right what once went wrong, but stronger and more competent than ever.

And everything pretty much works out how it should.

This isn't that story. Because lines of events are very finicky, random occurrences, conversations, and reactions are just that, random. And if you know they're coming, why, that changes everything.

And because unlike some other characters, Luffy wouldn't be able to just sit back and let people get hurt when they "were supposed to". Luffy's mantra had always been to screw destiny and do what made him and his crew happiest.

Things would go off the rails pretty fast.

(Most recent One Piece chapter at time of writing- 833)


	2. Shells Town Base

"How dare you?!" Axe-Hand Morgan growled, advancing on the older Luffy. "You smash through my base, free my prisoner, insult my honor and-"

Luffy barely looked at him as his fist shot out, knocking the captain unconscious. "Where were they?" Luffy asked himself, trying to focus. How had he found them before? He saw Zoro in the courtyard, Coby said he was scary, then the whole thing with the little girl, so he knew Zoro was really a good guy, and then he said he woulnd't join, so Luffy went to find his swords and- "OH! I should break the statue!" Looking upward, he grinned, biting down on his thumb. "GOMU GOMU NO, ELEPHANT GUN!" His fist grew to massive proportions, smashing through the ceiling above him, and the ceiling above that, and so on, until it blasted the top of Shellstown's Marine base right open.

The statue was destroyed.

So was almost everything else. "GAH! I'll never find the swords in all this!"

"Shi~shi~shi!" Luffy turned around, watching in horror as his younger self flung aside a boulder, grabbing the three swords.

"NO!" He dashed forward, quickly catching up to his counterpart. "Give me the swords!"

"No, I'm gonna be captain!"

"But I'm the one who will be the Pirate King!"

"No, I am!"

"Stop that!" Older Luffy growled, slamming his fists together. "Don't make me kick your ass!"

"You'd be kicking your own ass!" Younger Luffy countered. "Look, I got the swords, that makes me the captain!"

"But I need to be the captain!"

"Then you should have found them first." He said, sticking out his tongue.

"No, we need to do a redo!"

"No way!"

The older Luffy narrowed his eyes, confused. It was obvious that he was the captain, or should be, but the younger him did get the swords first. Unless... He glared at the younger one, and his knees buckled, feeling the full weight of his older counterpart's Conqueror's Haki. "Give me the swords."

"No!" The younger fought to stand back up, angry now.

The older Luffy was impressed. "Fine." He said, sighing. "Zoro's on your crew, I guess."

"What? Just like that?"

"Yeah."

"What about you? Are you going to join?"

"Only if I get to be captain!"

"But I'm the captain!"

"Which of us is closer to getting to the One Piece?"

"We're standing next to each other, we're the same distance away!"

The older one blinked. Sighing, he sat on the ground, thinking. "This is complicated! I didn't think there would be another me!"

"What, did you think we would just kind of fuse into each other?"

"No, I just didn't think about it."

"Well we can't both be the Pirate King."

"Ugh, it's like back when I was a kid. Though Ace and Sabo never really thought we would have a chance. If the three of us were Co-Captains, how would we decide who the King was?"

"Well, obviously it would be me." Younger Luffy said proudly.

"Well, yeah."

The other one sat down on the ground, also looking uncharacteristically deep in thought. "...You still have the hat."

The older Luffy smiled, reaching up and pulling it off his head. "I did meet up with Shanks again. I offered it back, but he said it was mine now. That I should give it to someone who deserves it, if I felt like it. After all, it's been on a long journey, no need for it to stop with Shanks."

Light sparkled in his younger self's eyes. "Shanks said you were a great pirate?"

"Yeah."

"That's so cool! I'm so happy."

"You didn't do it! I did." The older Luffy growled. "You don't get to be happy until he says it to you."

"But... if it happened the first time, it'll happen again, this time to me!"

"Well, who knows. You don't remember it happening. You're a different Luffy from me. After all, I never met an older me!" He looked around at the destroyed navy base. "Ah crap! Coby said he wanted to join the Marines, and now I've destroyed the place!"

The younger one waved it off. "The Marines are everywhere! He can just join at a different base."

"But he joined this one!"

"So, what's the big deal?"

"What if the next place he joins is just some small-time place where nothing happens! That Morgan guy is supposed to escape or something, so my Grandpa comes to help, and then he sees Coby and takes him in!"

"Coby is trained by Garp?!"

"He was." Older Luffy pouted. "He got really strong too! He learned these CP9 techniques, and then he got Haki!"

"Seepeenine? Hockey?"

"Oh. Um, he got really really strong!"

"Cool!" The younger then got up, grabbing the swords. "Come on, let's go tell him!"

The older grabbed the other's arm, stopping him. "Wait, we should probably leave Coby here. He's going to be a Marine, and we're pirates."

"Well, I'll just beat him up a little, that way the Marines know we're enemies!"

"That's what I did last time. They actually really hate Captain Morgan."

"Who?"

"The guy in charge of the base. He had an axe for a hand. The people in this town hated him, so they let me and Zoro leave without any trouble." Luffy looked behind him at the massive amounts of destruction he had wrought. Marines rushed around, trying to clear debris, and rescue the wounded. From the nearby town, people were debating whether to gawk at the wreckage, or to turn tail and run for their lives. "Though we might have more trouble this time around. I think I really went overboard."

The two made their way through the chaos, before coming back to the yard, one of the areas relatively untouched by the collapse of the major military base. Zoro was doing his best to hold his ground, but Luffy was glad, and a little confused, to see that Zoro was in awe of him. The younger Luffy held out Zoro's swords. "So, will you join my crew?"

"I..." Zoro began, looking between the two of them. "How did you become so powerful?"

"The Grand Line is a mess." the Luffy from the future began. "It's filled with people that are so powerful that I couldn't believe it at first. The East Blue is just... so small, Zoro. It's a lot of fun out there. And it was really hard. I had to learn to do new things, I got beaten up, and then I got back up. Over and over. Almost all the way around the world."

Zoro nodded. "Do I become as strong as you?"

"You did before." He said helpfully. "So you've obviously got the ability!"

Zoro grabbed his swords. "And being a pirate didn't stop me, or hold me back?"

"Shishishi~ Mihawk's a pirate too, you know? Were you going to join the Marines if I didn't come?"

"No. I was just going to head out there on my own. Hitch a ride with someone passing through."

"Not many people just 'pass through' Paradise, let alone the New World." Luffy wrapped his arms around both his younger self and Zoro, pulling them close. "Join me! We'll become the best crew in the world a second time!"

"Hey! I got the swords, you should join me!"

"Sorry, but the older you may be someone I respect, but I don't know anything about you." The younger Luffy gasped, heartbroken. Zoro looked over at the taller one, frowning. "How did you convince me to join you the first time, again?"

"I held your swords hostage, you promised to join me if I freed you."

"You managed to force me into a promise, eh? Well as a man of honor, I couldn't refuse you after something like that."

"So what do I do?" Pouted the younger.

"Join us! Obviously!" the older said happily.

"Ehhh? But I want to be the captain!"

The older poked him in the chest, his expression challenging. "When you get as strong as me, we'll fight for it!"

The younger brightened up a little at that. "...Really?"

"Yeah! We'll sail to the end as Co-Captains, and then when we reach One Piece, we'll fight over which of us get the title!"

"YEAH!"

A bead of sweat broke along Zoro's forehead as he watched the idiotic conversation. "So, if you're both going to be Captain... what do I call you two?"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" Both shouted at once. "HEY!"

Zoro frowned. "...What's the D stand for?"

The younger shrugged, as the older looked a little embarrassed. "That's a loooong story."

"No it isn't, just tell me what your middle name is."

"It's just 'D'." the older said, in a tone that marked that as the end of that conversation.

"Look, we can't just call both of you Luffy."

"Why not?" Asked the younger. "We are both Luffy."

"It'll just get confusing!" The samurai argued. "Okay, how about this, we'll call one of you Monkey, and the other is Luffy."

"Okay." Both agreed at once. "As long as I get to be called Luffy."

Zoro let out the first of what would be many sighs of irritation.

* * *

"Hey Coby!" the younger called. Waving to him at the same time.

"D-d-did you destroy the base?! Why?!"

"Oh, no, that was all him." He gestured at the older, who blushed a little.

"Sorry..."

"Sorry?! SORRY?! You destroyed the base! The Marines in this whole area of the sea will be shattered! Towns will get attacked, chaos will reign!"

"Sorry, geez." The older grumbled. "Look, grandpa Garp will show up pretty soon to take care of all this!"

"The.. the 'Hero' Garp?"

"Yeah." said the older.

"He's your grandpa?!"

"Yeah." said the younger.

"And suddenly this makes sense." Zoro said, looking over the destruction. Shellstown's bases were visible from miles away at sea. The giant blue towers had been the landmark of this island. Put it on the map. And now they were gone. He would have mourned that the best place to collect bounties in the area was no longer available, but he supposed it didn't matter now that he would become a pirate.

"Speaking of," the older Luffy began. "You won't want to be seen with us. We're pirates, after all."

"I... Yeah, you're right. I guess this should be where we part ways." Coby said, hesitantly.

"Shishishi~" the younger Luffy grabbed him, pulling him into a half-hug. "I'll see you again after you become a powerful Navy man, and you're chasing after me!"

"Y-Yeah! I'm going to become a proud sailor!" He did the marine salute, smiling despite the sadness of seeing his friend go. Tears began running down his face.

"Good ol' crybaby Coby." the future Luffy said happily. People had begun to run out into the ruins, trying to help those caught in the destruction and trying to salvage anything of worth. "Go help those guys out, eh? Make a good impression!"

The boy turned and ran back over to the remains of Shellstown's base. As the three pirates walked back towards the shore, a group of Marines passed by carrying water barrels as an emergency fire brigade.

One broke off, upon recognizing Zoro. "Wh-what are you doing free?" he asked. The rest of the impromptu fire brigade stopped in their tracks, scared stiff by the presence of the Pirate Hunter.

Zoro glanced back at his Captains, before smiling menacingly. "These two here broke me out, and destroyed the whole base. In exchange, I'm joining them as a pirate."

"WHAT?!" Shouted the small group of marines, as well as everyone in earshot.

"And you won't need that." the Luffy from the future said, smiling. "I just punched my way through the supports. No bombs or anything. No fires."

They began backing away, staring.

"Wh-what are you?!"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" He shouted. The other Luffy pouted a little. "And I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

"I'm also Monkey D. Luffy!" the present Luffy shot back. "And I'm going to be the King first!"

"I'm ending this before we get caught in a circle." Zoro grunted, pulling on both of them. "Come on, we need to get out of here before they bring in reinforcements... right, Captains?"

The future Luffy grinned. It had been a while, but Zoro always was one of the ones who kept him grounded. As their adventure went on, the one who would pull Luffy back into reality had become Nami, and then Usopp. But Zoro was also a source of reason. "Shishishi, that's right. Let's steal a ship! One with plenty of food."

"Yeah!"

With that, the three continued their stroll down to the docks.

An ensign, and the highest ranked of the group of Marines turned around and took off for the remains of the base. "Come on! We need to confirm their story, and then send a message to command!"

"Captain Morgan is going to have so many heads for this."

"Unless he was caught in the destruction." One of the others in the group said hopefully.

"Maybe this 'King' Luffy is our savior, then."

"Nonsense! Even if Morgan is a tyrant, we represent Justice! Who knows how many of us were wounded or killed in that explosion!"

* * *

Revised on 12/18/2016


	3. Vivre Cards

"Hooo~" Zoro said, patting his belly. "That was delicious. I never want to go without eating like that ever again."

The other two were still eating, having gone through almost a third of the restaurant's stocks. "Ib ah habd ter eat nofting bor dab log, ibd die!" The older managed, speaking while simultaneously chewing, swallowing, and shoveling more food into his mouth.

"What?"

He stopped eating for a second, grabbing a mug of beer and draining it, choking down the mass that was in his mouth. "Pfaaah~ I said, if I had to eat nothing for that long, I'd die!"

"Yeah!" The younger said, patting Zoro on the back. "You're a lot tougher than me."

"So, once we finish eating, are we heading out to port to pick up a ship?"

"We can use mine and Coby's. It was one of Alvida's rafts." The younger offered.

"There's no way that can hold enough food." The older Luffy said, frowning. "Me and Zoro almost starved to death a few days after we set sail!"

"W-we did?" the swordsman asked.

"Yeah, and then I caught a giant bird, but I got carried off by it, and you had to catch up to me by rowing the boat all the way to another island!" He laughed, and Zoro looked horrified and a bit insulted.

"Well, I'm at least glad you remembered this time around." Zoro said, looking over to the other Luffy. "How much money do we have? Or should we just steal everything we need? After blowing up a marine base, it's not like we're going to become any more famous for stealing what we need."

"Eh? These people didn't do anything bad to us." the younger said, surprised. "Why would we steal from them?"

"You do know what a pirate is, right?"

"We didn't do that much pirating, actually." the older Luffy said, thinking back with a smile. "I mean, mainly we just robbed other pirates, but this one time I did sneak away with three hundred million beli worth of gold from an island called Skypiea!"

"Three hundred million?" Zoro asked, impressed.

"Franky took two hundred million of it to build us a new ship." Luffy continued.

"Franky?" The younger asked.

"Oh! I can't wait to tell you both about them all! Our crew is the greatest in the world! Nami is our navigator, she's scary, but awesome. And there's Usopp, he's our sniper!"

"Yasopp's kid?"

"Yeah!"

"Cool!"

"And we've got Sanji-" Luffy blinked, before grinning mischievously. "He's your best friend Zoro! You two are inseparable!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!" He laughed. "Just wait until you meet him. And then there's our doctor, Chopper, he's a reindeer man! Then there's Robin, she's the smartest person I ever met, and she's really cool. Franky is our shipwright, he's a giant robot!"

"WHAT!?"

"And... he shoots LASER BEAMS."

"NO! Really?! So cool!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "We just gathered a few freaks, huh? What's next?"

"Our musician is Brook! He's a swordsman with an afro, oh, and he's a living skeleton!"

"What." Zoro said. "How?"

"Devil Fruit."

"He ate the... skeleton skeleton fruit or something?"

"The revive revive fruit, actually."

"Then... is he immortal?"

"No... it just brings you back once." the older Luffy said, sadly. "Though since he came back as a skeleton, he's a lot harder to hit than most people. You have to... shatter him, to really hurt him."

The other two glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. "Um... what about the others?"

The older Luffy looked back up, smiling again. "There's Jimbe, he's a whale shark fishman with awesome karate. And Carrot, she's a rabbit Mink with electric powers, and she's ridiculously strong and fast! And that's just the main crew. The whole fleet is another deal entirely."

"The fleet?" the younger Luffy asked in reverence. "We have a fleet? You're Admiral Luffy?!"

"Ah!" Luffy grinned. "Yeah! You can be Captain all by yourself, little me! I'll be Admiral Luffy!"

"NO! I want to be the admiral!"

"But I'm the one with the fleet!"

"Your fleet isn't here now." Zoro noted.

"Yeah!" The younger agreed, slamming his fist on the table.

"Fine, fine. Let's see, first there's Cavendish, he's a swordsman."

Zoro looked up. "He's that super-rookie that's been in the papers earlier this year, right?"

"Yeah, I think he said something about that." Luffy said with a nod. "He really hated me when we first met because me and the Supernovae stole his popularity. Then there's Bartolomeo, he's a funny guy."

Zoro paled. "You mean the Cannibal? He's a big-shot in the East Blue's underworld. You know him?"

"Yeah, he's the second division commander. Then there's Sai and his navy, Ideo and his guys, Leo and his Dwarfs, Hajrudin and his four Giants, and Orlumbus, and his fifty-six ships. We also had a bunch of other allies that weren't part of the crew, but we were pretty good friends and fought together a lot!"

"Holy shit." Zoro whispered. "You know, with a line up like that, I can see how we got so close to actually making you King of the Pirates."

Luffy blushed, smiling at the praise. "Yeah, like I said, they're the best crew!"

"So... who killed us?" Zoro asked. The table went silent as the older Luffy's smile disappeared. "It... kind of happened all at once. We were at war with the four Emperors and the Marines. It was a huge, final battle near the end of the Grand Line... I don't want to talk about it right now." He said. "It doesn't matter. It won't happen like that again!" He said, determined. "This time, we're all making it to the end, got it? I promise!"

"Yosh!" The younger said. "Yeah, it won't be like the last time, after all, now you have me too!"

"Yeah!"

Zoro smiled. "Alright. I can accept that." He looked around the restaurant, and out the window to the port. "So, back to the matter at hand. Are we stealing a ship and the stuff we need?"

"I'm okay with it." The older Luffy said. "But it's not going to be permanent. On Gecko Island, there's a ship waiting for us to claim her. The Going Merry." Luffy smiled. "We lost her, too. Earlier than anyone else."

"That's fine." the younger replied. "We'll just ride the one we get here until that point, then."

"Well, let's go get us a boat.

* * *

"It's a bit big, isn't it?" The younger asked, looking at the Marine ship. It wasn't one of the big battleships that were common further into the Grand Line, but it was more than twice the size of the Thousand Sunny. Built for a crew of about fifty sailors.

"Shishishi~ Haven't you ever wanted to sail around in one of those though?" The older replied.

"No way! Every time I see that Anchor-M thing on the sails, I remember Gramps' dumb speeches."

"Will we even be able to control it?" Zoro asked. "With just the three of us?"

"That's true..." the future Luffy sighed, waving it off. "Fine, fine. Let's get a smaller one. But we aren't leaving behind the food."

Walking along the port, they eyed every ship they passed, writing off each one as too complicated or not big enough. "Maybe we should just jump along with someone else, get a lift over to wherever the Going Merry is." Zoro offered.

"Oh yeah, you must have survived by getting carted around by others, there's no way you'd be able to sail anywhere on your own!" the older commented.

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean, huh?"

"You did try to walk off to the other side of the island." the younger mentioned.

"I was taking a short cut."

"But the port was right in front of us!"

"Whatever. The point still stands."

"I suppose. Hmm..." the older Luffy pulled open his jacket, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a small book. Flipping it open, he flipped between the pages. Upon reaching one of them, he let out a shocked gasp. "N-no way."

"What?" both of the others asked.

"Th-this is..." tears began to dribble from his eyes, rushing through his book. Each page had a sealed plastic pocket, in which there was a shred of paper that would slowly move around inside the pocket if the book was held still. His Vivre Card journal. The last time he had checked it, so many of the pockets were simply filled with ash. The crumbled remains of a card whose owner had died.

And now they were back. He almost bawled on the spot. Flipping to Zoro's page, he stared as the shred of card drifted towards the man standing next to him. "It... It works!"

"What are those?"

"Vivre Cards! Everyone's alive!" Luffy cried. "The cards will always move towards a specific person! I- we had one made for everyone, so we could find each other if we got separated!" He flipped through, showing them off to his crew-mates. "Here's Nami, and here's Chopper, and Usopp, and Orlumbus and Barto and Robin!" He spoke excitedly, before passing the page with Sabo's name.

"SABO!?" the younger shouted, staring at his older counterpart. "Why do you have one of Sabo?!"

"Oh, he's alive."

"WHAT?!"

"Who's Sabo?" Zoro questioned.

"One of my brothers." Answered Luffy, smiling down at it. That card hadn't disappeared at least. The revolutionaries were busy elsewhere, in the final battle. "I thought he died when we were little, but he was just injured, and then got kidnapped by our Dad. He lost his memory from the injury for a while, so I didn't find out until about two and half years into our journey."

"Where's Ace's card?" The younger asked, flipping through the journal on his own.

"I... lost his card."

"Whuh? Stupid! How would we be able to find him then?"

"He'll find us when he wants too." The older said, waving it off.

Zoro grabbed the book from the younger Luffy. "So, it seems like we'll be a confused mess until we pick up our Navigator, right? So we should head for her first." flipping through the pages, he came to one labeled Nami. "Hmmm... got it."

"Got what?" the younger asked.

"We'll just go around asking which ships are heading to the left."

"..." both Luffys stared at him.

"What?"

"Let's just, erm, yeah, that's... pfft, that's a good plan, Zoro." the older began, trying to keep himself from cracking up.

"After all, with all these ships, ehehe, at least one must be heading, shihihi, left." the younger continued, less successful in hiding his giggling.

"...You two are weirdos. Come on."

* * *

The captain of a trading vessel whose usual job was bringing shipments of food to Shells Town for the Marine base agreed to take them to a neighboring island in about the right direction, in exchange, the three of them had to fish with some of the other idle sailors, adding their catch to the rest.

"So, what's our plan?" The older Luffy asked.

"What do you mean?" the younger asked. "We're going to go to the Grand Line, and then sail up to the end, and we're going to find the One Piece!"

"Well, yeah, but what about between now and then?" the older asks. "I'm not going to force us along the same path I took before. The Grand Line is about adventure! I mean, I still want to help my friends and and visit them, but we don't have to follow it exactly, right?"

Zoro shrugged. "I mean, you're in charge. Whatever your plan, we'll follow it to the end."

"Hey! I'm in charge too!" the younger shouted. "And I say... let's just go wherever! Let's help older me's friends, and after that, just go where the wind takes us!"

"Shishishi, I can't ask for more."

"But if we followed the same course, your future knowledge would be able to help us, right?"

"Eh, I'm here, we're on a different boat, and we're looking for all my comrades before they even know we exist. We're already doing things differently than it happened for me."

"So, how did you find Nami the first time?"

"I told you right, the bird picked me up, and dropped me on the island. Don't see it anywhere near here, anyway."

"What was the name of the island?" Zoro asked. "We might be able to catch up to her."

"...I don't remember." He said, after thinking for several seconds. "It had a mayor and a dog though."

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter, we have the Vivre Card." Zoro said, choosing to ignore the second part.

"Yep! There's no real hurry, I guess. But I still want to meet up with everyone as soon as possible!" the older Luffy said, looking out onto the horizon. Jumping back in time was the right decision after all.

* * *

"So uh, here's the thing-" Nami began backed against the wall by three pirates. "-I didn't really steal from you because I wanted to! My boss made me, and he's got a ton of other treasure, if you just follow me I can lead you right to him, and you can grab everything! He'll never know what hit him!"

"Nice try girly, but Buggy's orders were to grab the thief, you, and bring you back. No interruptions. When Buggy doesn't get what he wants, he gets an itchy trigger finger."

"Hah, I bet she'll see his love of cannons personally!"

"Come on, I'm just a harmless little girl!" She said, pouting. "Can't we just forget all about this? You don't really want to hurt me, do you?"

"After all that distance you made us chase you? Hah, you deserve whatever Captain Buggy is going to do to you."

She gulped as one of them brought out a rope. "Give us the map, and we'll at least be gentle."

"I... crap."


	4. Klahadore Kuro Just Wants A Quiet Life

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Buggy said, grinning sadistically. "I'm glad to see you've caught that burglar. Without that map, we'd be in a pretty bad position, once we finally headed into the Grand Line." He said to the three crew mates who captured Nami.

"Look, there's no need to bring violence into this!" Nami said, from where she sat in the small cage. "The truth is..."

"Hmm?" Buggy leaned in close, putting his hand to his ear.

"The truth is, I stole that map because I wanted to go to the Grand Line myself." She said, subdued. "I wasn't stealing it to sell it. I was going to take it and use it."

"Why should I care what you were going to do with it?! You stole it from me all the same!"

"No, I'm a navigator. One of the best in the entire East Blue. The Grand Line's weather is supposed to be quite treacherous, right? You'll need the best navigators you can get your hands on!"

Buggy grinned. "Girl, you don't know the half of it. I've been to the Grand Line before. The weather's not just treacherous, it's impossible." He boasted. "Lightning rains down like, well, rain. Ocean currents that shoot miles into the sky before they crash back down again, cities built on clouds, massive monsters, sudden storms, weather that shifts between extremes and seasons as easily and as quickly as someone can take a step. Miles-high waves, hills of water, suddenly-boiling patches of sea, candy rain!"

Nami stared at him in shock. "That... no! None of that can be possible!"

"I've seen it. Don't underestimate the Grand Line. What you need to survive isn't someone who's good at reading a map, or reading the weather, because both are useless in that sea. What you need is a hardy group of bastards that can react to every work of the devil the ocean throws at us!" His crew began cheering, "And we are that hardy group of bastards!"

"But..."

"No buts. Now tell, me, girl. Do you have anything else to offer? I mean, you are a thief. Right now your two options are death by explosion or death by stabbing. Give me another one, if you're so valuable."

"I..." the treasure couldn't help anyone if she was dead, after all. "I have money. A lot of it. I've been stealing from pirates for years now."

"How much are we talking about?"

"Almost one hundred million beli."

"You're lying."

"I'm not!" She said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I've been saving it up to buy something precious to me, and I've been robbing nearly every pirate in the East Blue! I almost got away, despite you sending all your monsters after me. You know I'm a good thief."

"Hmm..." Buggy looked into her eyes, grinning. "Well! All's well that ends well, right men?" He shouted to the rest of the crew. "What? Why aren't you celebrating? Didn't you hear? We're getting some walking around money, all of us! Especially the three who brought in our little benefactor!" Grabbing the cage, Buggy began dragging it through the bar. "I'm taking miss thief back to the ship. We're leaving at dawn, if there's anything else from the village you want, go get it now, before we leave!"

"Yes sir Captain Buggy!"

Nami sighed, curling in on herself. She wouldn't stand for this. All she had to do was wait until the time was right to escape. It would happen long before they reached the Conomi islands. And besides, if they did get near them, Arlong would probably wipe out the whole lot of them...

An evil smile spread across her face.

* * *

"Hm." the older Luffy frowned, looking down at Nami's Vivre Card. "It's moving."

"What does that mean?" the younger asked.

"It means we're heading in the wrong direction!" The older Luffy said, sighing. "Darn it! She must have sailed to a different island already!"

"Crap." Zoro said simply. "We'll have to get on another boat when we reach land."

"Tracking people like this was so much easier when we had Nami!" older Luffy mourned. "But how can we find Nami if only Nami can find Nami!?"

Zoro and the younger blinked. "We live in a complicated world." Zoro said quietly. "Okay, so what do we know about where she could be heading then?"

"Well, after leaving the town Buggy attacked, we sailed toward Gecko island. That's where Usopp is." Luffy flipped through the book, stopping at Usopp's card.

The younger Luffy frowned. "That's not the same direction as Nami is."

"Maybe she's taking a roundabout way?"

"Maybe."

"...Maybe we should head for Gecko island anyway, pick up this 'Usopp', the ship, and then wait for her. And if she doesn't show up, at least we'll have our own boat to go looking for her in." Zoro offered.

"Ehh, that's true..." the older Luffy looked a little dissatisfied, but he shrugged. "Well, it seems like a plan! Let's do it!"

"Yosh!" the younger Luffy said excitedly. He got up from where they were sitting, leaving his fishing pole behind. Running over to the captain's quarters of the small vessel, he stopped to talk to the man. "Hey, would you mind heading over to Gecko Island?"

"Wha- no! I have a scheduled stop in the Organ Islands! I'm not heading off to a little spot of nowhere because a non-paying passenger asked!" he said, a little angry at the implausibility of the demand.

"Come on~"

"No."

The other Luffy followed him, and behind him Zoro. "Do you know who I am?" Zoro asked.

"R-Roronoa Zoro." The captain said hesitantly. "I know who you are, in fact, the only reason I let you on my ship was because I though you'd be able to fend off anything that tried to mess with us. I'm not changing course if you threaten me!"

"Oh yeah?" he asked. He stood up to his full height, looking down slightly into the captain's eyes. "Listen, take us to Gecko Island, you're slightly inconvenienced. Don't take us to Gecko Island, you're incredibly inconvenienced."

"I... am the captain of this ship!" He said bravely. "And there's nothing you can say or do that can change my mind-" the older Luffy sucked in a burst of air, growing in size. He waited, as all activity on the ship stopped to stare at the sudden presence of Luffy's gum-gum balloon. He then let out all the air at once, roaring all the while. The sudden force of the air coming out pushed him down, and the ship underneath him. The entire vessel creaked as the back of the sailing ship dipped into the water and the front stuck high up into the air.

The entire crew was tense for a few seconds as the ship more-or-less righted itself. Nothing had fallen off, and no one was hurt, but all the same, besides Zoro and the younger Luffy, all were terrified.

"I'd like for you to take us to the Gecko islands, please." the older Luffy said with a friendly smile. "Or I'll 'breathe deeply' again, and the ship might sink."

"..."

"..."

"Alright then. Change in course men, we're making a stop at Gecko Island!"

"Shishishi~"

* * *

"Usopp's not here?!" the older Luffy asked, surprised. "He was waiting at the cliff for us last time!"

"Well... we got here a few days earlier than you did when you did it the first time, right?" Zoro mentioned.

"Yeah! He's probably hanging around somewhere else!" the younger said cheerfully. "I'm glad that we'll get to meet Yasopp's kid! Is he as good a sniper?"

"Better!" the older said proudly. "Just you wait, he'll pull some amazing stuff!"

"So, what's the plan, Captains?"

"Well, we have two goals!" The younger Luffy said proudly. "The first, is to get our precious future Sniper! The second, is to get our previous future ship!"

"Should we split up?" the Zoro asked.

"It could go quicker, and there's another thing I want to do on this island." the older said, looking out over the horizon of the island.

"What's that?" Zoro asked.

"There's a bastard here." Luffy said darkly. "That I'm going to kick the ass of a second time."

"Oh?" Zoro said, grinning. "He'd be small fry to you, now wouldn't he? Why don't you leave him to me and Little Lu here?"

"L-Little Lu?!" The younger said, shocked.

"Well, I can't go around calling you both Luffy all the time. It'd get confusing!"

"Little Lu?!" the older asked, surprised, before he started laughing. "That's great! And am I 'Big Fee'?!"

"Nah, you're just Luffy."

"Why does he get to be Luffy?!" Lu asked, outraged. "As the captain I demand a name change!"

"It's just a nickname. Don't worry about it." Luffy said, waving it off.

"Besides, he's the elder. Shouldn't he get a bit more respect?"

"Only by four years!"

"Shishishi~" He slapped the back of his two crew mates. "I like it! Little Lu and Big Luffy! Hmm, well, there's a mansion on the hill over on that side of the island." He said, pointing into the distance. It was the wrong direction, but none of the three were very good at finding their way around places. "There's a sick girl there, and she owns the ship! Her butler is an asshole named Klahadore or Kuro or something, I kinda forgot. But he's a former pirate, and in two days... or... well, we have a bit longer, this time, he tries to get his old crew to attack the island so he can steal the girl's mansion! He also tried to kill Usopp!"

"Ah, and so that's the guy we need to beat up?" Lu asked. "Anyone who tries to hurt Usopp is going to get it!"

"We haven't even met the guy yet." Zoro said, but he was smirking. "But then again, we could say it's a recruitment effort for our sniper."

"Yosh! Lu said triumphantly. "So, me and Zoro'll take out this Kurohadore, and you go look for Usopp?"

"Hm..." Luffy frowned. "It'd probably be easier to convince the girl to give us the ship if we have Usopp there, she's his friend, after all. So I'm going to go look for Usopp! Kuro is a tall guy, with short hair and big round glasses. He has poop shapes on his jacket, and in a fight, he's really, really, fast. He also uses ten swords at once."

"Wha- TEN!?"

"He puts one on each finger, he wears special gloves."

"What a weirdo." Lu commented. "Alright! Let's go find him, then."

"Yes Captain." Zoro said, turning off with Lu and heading in almost the same direction Luffy pointed out.

"Yosh, alright! Time to see Usopp again!" Luffy cried, rushing out into the village, looking for his long-nosed sniper.

* * *

"So... any idea where the mansion is?"

"Are we heading for the mansion, I thought that was where the boat was."

"Agh! This is getting frustrating! We should just ask someone." Lu said, looking out over the countryside. "There's a little village over there. Someone probably knows where we could find Kuro there!"

"Yeah, probably." Zoro said. The two began making their way down the hills, before finding their way to the town center. "Hey," Zoro began pointing out the tavern. "Want to stop for a drink? I haven't had any alcohol since we left Shells Town."

"Sure! I could eat. Older me has all the food we brought with anyway."

Zoro quietly wondered how much of it would be left by the time they met up again. The two entered the tavern, sitting down at the bar. They both ordered some drinks and food, and sat down to wait for it to be ready.

"That damn Usopp." One of the other patrons muttered. "Waking us all up again, every day. Somebody should do something."

"Well, he's about as reliable as a rooster." said another.

"A rooster isn't so damn annoying." said the first. "Every day, that voice of his, ringing out."

"Hrrm."

Lu got up from where he was sitting, "Wait, you know Usopp?"

"Everyone in this town knows Usopp! What, you new here?"

"Yeah!"

"Then... how do you know about him?"

"I want to get him to join my pirate crew!"

"Hah! Even more people sucked into his pirate talk. Sure, he and his own gang of ruffians live up the hill."

"He has his own gang?" Zoro asked.

The two patrons shared a glance, before smirking. "Yeah, the guy's feared around these parts. He runs a group of bandits, call themselves the Usopp Pirate Crew. They raid the village every day, right at the same time."

"We've been fortunate thus far, but soon we'll run out of tribute to appease his wrath!" the second patron said over-dramatically. "Then we'll really have to be afraid of what Usopp will do to us!"

"Whoah, so I guess this guy must be pretty tough! I guess the son of Yasopp would be!" Lu said, stars in his eyes. "Cool! Maybe we can go get him, before we beat up that Kuro guy?"

"Wasn't the older you going to do that?"

"But if we find him first, that's just how it is, right?" Lu said cheerfully.

"I suppose. Alright, why not? Let's go find him. He'll probably be able to tell us where Kuro is, anyway."

* * *

"Ah! The mansion!" Luffy said, surprised when he spotted it in the distance. He was aiming for where he thought the town was, but he supposed it didn't matter, now that he knew where to go. He could just find the Going Merry, and say hello, before he went off to look for Usopp.

Launching himself a great way of the distance, he stopped before the mansion, circling around it and heading towards the nearby sea shore, where the Going Merry was kept before she was gifted to their crew. He jumped up the hill, and looked down, and saw her waiting there for him.

" _ **MERRY!**_ " Luffy shouted, leaping off the cliff, grabbing onto the mast and twirling down it to land on the deck.

It was definitely different than he remembered. Nami's Mikans were nowhere in sight, the metal plates and off-color patches from Usopp's amateur carpentry was nowhere in sight. The paint was fresh, the wood free of splinters, sanded and oiled. The sails were free from wear and tear, as well as free from his own symbol.

He dropped to the deck, rubbing his face on the wood. " _ **MERRRY~ I missed you you dumb ship! Why'd you have to go and die on us the first time! I'm sorry! We'll take better care of you this time! I promise!**_ "

He sat there and cried for a while, eventually getting up and running to all the different rooms on the ship, peeking inside of cabins and feeling his heart warm with each familiar sight. The boy's room, the girl's room. The bathroom, the kitchen and dining room, the hold, the cannons, the still-new rigging and everything else. He could have spent hours simply reliving the days he spent on their first ship, their hard-working caravel.

He would have spent hours, if he had not been interrupted by one of the things he set out to do. "Hey you! This is private property, remove yourself, or I'll call one of the bodyguards to have you thrown out!" Klahadore shouted from where he stood at the top of the hill.

"Captain Kuro." Luffy growled. Looking up at him, suddenly serious.

"Wha-" the persona broke for only a moment as Kuro backed away in shock. He regained composure, and pushed up his glasses. "What are you talking about? My name is Klahadore, I'm a butler."

"No, you're Captain Kuro. You're a bastard who tricked that girl into thinking you loved her, and who turned the town against Usopp! You were going to try and kill her!"

"What are you... fine. You know, who else does?" the persona of the faithful servant fell away completely, leaving behind a man with a cold, calculating, malicious expression.

"Just me and my two crew mates." Luffy said simply. "In fact, one of the things I came here to do on this island was kick your ass."

"Are they foreigners as well?" Kuro grinned slightly. "And friends of Usopp, apparently. Or connected to him at the very least. Heh, fine then. They can say whatever they want, none of the people here would believe the accomplices of a liar."

"Whatever. Are you going to try and kill me, or do you need your cat-claws first?" Luffy asked, clenching his fist.

"...How did you find out about me? Interrogated one of my former crew, perhaps?"

"I came back in time from the future. I saw you attack the island."

"...What?"

"I came back in time."

"What the hell are you mumbling about?" Kuro asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Look, you know about Devil Fruit, right?"

"I've heard rumors. Didn't think there was much to them." Luffy shot his arm out, stretching it all the way to the hillside where Kuro was standing. He launched from the Going Merry, landing in front of the former captain. "Ah..."

"I ate the Gum-Gum fruit." Luffy explained. "I'm a Rubber Human. On my travels, I met an old man who had eaten the Kiro-Kiro fruit. A Return Human. I asked him to send me four years back in time, so he did. But one of the things I did four years ago, was meet you. I kicked your ass then, and I'll do it again now."

"This whole story is ridiculous!" Kuro said, "But I am aware of the strangeness of the Grand Line... Meh, I suppose it doesn't matter. Fine, I'll indulge you, I can kill you without my claws just fine." Kuro shot forward, tapping the ground so quickly he shot across the grass faster than most people could see. Reaching out with a small knife he had kept in his pocket, he aimed for Luffy's neck.

He then screamed as Luffy caught his arm and wrenched it to the side, combined with the forward momentum Kuro already had, the action broke the arm he had held the knife with. "OH GOD MY F#&KING ARM."

"I'm a little faster than you. You really should have gone back and gotten your Cat Claws." Luffy said, grabbing the man by his suit and holding him over the hill. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"... Is there any particular reason you need me dead, or was this just vendetta for me presumably murdering Miss Kaya in the future?"

"Nah, you didn't kill anyone but your own men when you got pissed at them." Luffy said off-handedly. "Honestly, I expected a bit more fight from you. I thought in our fight I would have ended it by killing you or knocking you out, I'm not really sure how to go from this point."

"Then... can you let me go?"

"Why should I? You'd just try and kill Kaya again!"

"Look, the entire reason I plotted this assassination was that I wanted to live a quiet vegatative life away from bounty hunters and marines. I wanted to live in this sleepy little hamlet peacefully for the rest of my days. Kaya's wealth was simply for added comfort. If... If that security is threatened by trying to kill her, then there's no reason for me to try it. It would be working against myself."

"...What?" Luffy asked, confused by the roundabout words.

"... You're an idiot aren't you?"

"An idiot who broke your arm and can break another one. Oh, and also tell everyone how you were going to try and get pirates to attack the village."

"Fine, fine. Look, if trying to kill Kaya means I can't live peacefully in the village, then I won't do it. Before, I could have killed her, and gotten away with it. I can't now, so I won't bother trying. I promise."

"Why should I trust you?" Luffy asked, threateningly making a tossing motion over the cliff.

"Look, I'm a rational man. You've got the upper hand. What do you want?"

"Hmm... I think I want to kick your ass."

"Shit wait don't no-"

Luffy tossed him up in the air, before drop-kicking him out over the sea. The impact launched him almost out of sight, but Luffy still caught sight of the splash.

"Ahh! That was satisfying. Now, time to tell Kaya and Usopp the good news! ...After I find them!"

* * *

"Hey! Usopp!" Lu shouted, walking through the woods with Zoro.

"Come on out, we're pirates, and we'd like to make you an offer!" Zoro shouted as well.

"I'm going to be the Pirate King! And for that, I need you on my crew! I heard you're the best Sniper in the world!"

"Come on already!"

"Join my crew!"

Usopp watched them some distance away. He knew the island like the back of his hand. He had also been chased almost everywhere by the people of Syrup Village. Avoiding two idiots who were walking in circles was easy enough. He couldn't really figure them out, though. The two weren't from the village, or even the island. Gecko island wasn't a big place. Not everyone knew everyone else's name, but everyone could at least recognize each other. So the two were obviously foreigners or visitors to the island. His first thought was that maybe someone on the island was actually pissed off enough to hire a bounty hunter to do him in.

But then again, the two of them seemed to earnest for that. The black-haired one in the straw hat in particular. "Hey!" He called out, hidden in a tree. "You have trespassed in the territory of the dread pirate Usopp! Surrender now, or me an my eight-thousand soldiers will tear you limb from limb!" He called in his best scary voice.

"You're not a pirate! You're a bandit!"

"Whah- I am too a pirate! I'm the captain of the Usopp Pirate Crew!" He protested, switching accidently to his normal voice.

"Nah, I was raised by mountain bandits! You're a bandit. You can't be a pirate because you don't have a ship! You're stuck on this one island!"

"Shut up!" Usopp said. "Look, I might not have a ship now, but I'm thinking of the future, you know?"

Zoro grinned. "I mean, I get it. You must have a pretty cushy spot where you are now, no way for the town to defend itself from your... eight thousand strong crew."

"Uh, yeah!"

"So, where are they? We've been traipsing all over these woods, and I haven't seen a single pirate. Besides us, at least."

"Well, they're uh, they don't exist. Look, why are you looking for me?" Usopp asked, deciding that the two of them were unlikely to make trouble.

Lu grinned. "I'm planning on becoming King of the Pirates! My name is Monkey D. Luffy!" He pointed at his hat. "A pirate named Shanks is the one who inspired that dream in me! One of his crew mates was an amazing sniper, named Yasopp!"

"Wha- you mean, you met my dad?!" He asked, amazed. He came down from his tree, to go and see them. "Really?!"

"Yeah! He'd joined a really great crew! Yasopp was amazing! He once shot an apple straight through the center from a really long way aways. He could do anything with a gun!"

"Sounds... amazing. So, you want me from your crew because of that?"

"Kind of." Lu said, "You see, in a way I want you to join because apparently, you already did join me once!"

"...What?"

Zoro frowned. "It's a long story. Basically, this guy set out to become Pirate King, and recruited a bunch of people along the way. But near the end, he lost. So he found a guy that had the power to send things back in time. So now, there are two of him running around. You were one of the people the older version of this guy recruited."

"...Okay, I'm a professional liar, and even I know that story's too far-fetched to be believable."

"It's true! The Grand Line is filled with fantastic and mysterious things!" Lu said, mystified. "You'll believe it once you meet the older me!"

"Um..." well, it wasn't like he had anything else planned today. "Okay, I'll go with you to see him, but that doesn't mean I'm joining your crew, alright? Unless, of course, I get to be the Captain!"

"We've got one captain too many already!" Lu complained, snapping at him.

Zoro smiled. "Well, come on then. Oh yeah, would you happen to know someone named Klahadore?"

Usopp frowned. "Yeah, he's Kaya's butler. The guy doesn't like me much."

"Apparently the future Luffy has a grudge with him. He wants to kick the guy's ass before we leave the island."

Usopp didn't seem to like the sound of that. "I mean, the guy's a jerk, and pretty overprotective of Kaya, but he's not a bad person. Besides, it'd just upset Kaya."

Zoro shrugged. "The Captain seems to think that he was going to try and kill you and the girl, and bring pirates to attack the other villagers."

"What? That's ridiculous! Old mild-mannered Klahadore?" Usopp said.

"Well, we can talk about it with older me! He's the one who actually saw it."

"...I suppose."

* * *

Notes! I've decided to go with adorkableseyton's suggestion of having the younger Luffy go by "Little Lu". As for their bounty names, I've decided that the younger Luffy will keep the title of "Straw Hat Luffy", but I'm currently torn between older Luffy's title being "King Luffy" (as *also* suggested by adorkableseyton) or the title of "Cannonball Luffy", based on the Marines seeing Luffy's "Elephant Gun" attack, as it looks like his fist is turning into a giant black cannonball.

Any other suggestions for pirate titles for the older Luffy? I'm thinking I'll stave off on choosing an offical bounty name for him until the Loguetown arc.


	5. Lies And Truths

"Hey!" Lu called out. "Hey, rich lady!"

"Don't just yell." Usopp said, "Come on, I know a way to sneak in-"

Lu simply stretched his arms up, grabbing hold of the fence gate and flipping himself up and over, to land on the other side.

"-or you can just do that. I still can't believe Devil Fruit are real..."

Zoro shrugged. "Strange as it is to say, you get used to it pretty quick."

"Come on, you guys! Hurry up!" Lu shouted, walking up to the mansion.

Usopp sighed, leading Zoro to his secret entrance. The three met up in front of the mansion itself. "Now, remember not to be too noisy. The guards usually meet up for lunch this time of day-"

"Lunch!" Lu said. "I almost forgot, we need to go get some more food-"

"We just had lunch, captain, the tavern, remember?"

"That was just brunch." Lu said. "There's breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and supper!"

"...Anyways, the guards will be busy for about an hour, and then they'll go up to the front gate again." Usopp finished.

"So that means this is the best time to speak with the lady of the house without being interrupted?" Zoro asked.

"Yep." Usopp replied. "Hey, Kaya!" he said, tapping on the window. The girl behind it looked up from the book she was reading, her face lighting up when she caught sight of Usopp.

"Usopp!" She said, grinning. "So, what kind of story do you have to tell me today?"

"Hmm, well, I could tell you about the time when I was nine, I had fallen into a giant hole in the ground. Now, at first I thought that it was a well, but soon I realized that it was the den of an absolutely massive earthworm! Now, earthworm's don't have teeth, so I wasn't afraid of being eaten but-"

"Ahem." Zoro said.

"Oh! Who are these men, Usopp?" Kaya asked, noticing the two pirates.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Future King of the Pirates!"

"Roronoa Zoro."

"They're the newest members of my pirate crew."

"Bandits." Lu corrected. "And it's not your crew!"

"I think the villagers were just messing with us." Zoro said. "I didn't see any sign of the rest of his gang."

"You mean the Usopp pirate crew?" Kaya asked. "The three eight-year-old kids?"

Usopp sighed. "You're kind of breaking my reputation right in front of these guys, Kaya."

"Sorry." She said with a smile.

"Anyway! We came to see if you had a ship you could give us!" Lu said, walking up to the window. "We need it to help find our navigator, and then we're heading out for the Grand Line!"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can just give you a boat." Kaya said, raising an eyebrow. "Do any of you know how much a ship costs?"

"Nope!"

"Not a clue."

"Not really."

"Well, it costs quite a bit." Kaya said. "Besides, the only ship that's sail-worthy we have is the pet project of one of my servants. I can't just ask Merry to give away the ship he's spent months on!"

"Yeah, it was kind of foolish to think you could just give one to us." Usopp said. "Ah, and Kaya, these guys were saying something weird, earlier. Has... Klahadore been acting strange lately?"

"Klahadore? No, no more than usual."

"These guys seem to think he's up to something. Now, I don't like the guy, but you know him better."

"What do they think he's up to?" Kaya asked, surprised. "He's been serving my family for the last three years completely loyally."

"Well, our Captain seems to think he's a former pirate." Zoro answered.

"What!? Klahadore hates pirates." Kaya said. "There's no way he'd associate himself with them."

"It's not like we know what's wrong, it's our captain that has a problem with the guy." Zoro explained. "And I trust my Captain."

"Well, as long as you promise only to talk it out I can't see any reason for them not to talk-"

"Mistress Kaya!" Shouted Merry, bursting through Kaya's door. "It's Klahadore, and the Going Merry!"

"Huh?" All four responded.

"They're both missing!"

Lu and Zoro shared a look, grinning. "Well, it looks like Luffy's taken care of it already."

"What the-" Kaya began, looking to the two of them. "What do you think happened?"

"Well, it seems our Captain already met up with Klahadore, and found your ship. So we've probably already accomplished two of our goals here."

"What have you done with Klahadore!" Kaya shouted, getting worried.

Lu shrugged. "You'll have to ask older me that! Come on, let's go find him!" With that, Lu and Zoro rushed off to go look for Luffy.

Usopp hesitated, his first instinct was to follow them, but Kaya grabbed his arm. "Usopp, what's going on?"

"I don't know... and Kaya, those two are apparently real pirates." He said. "I'll try and go talk some sense into them, they... they respect my dad. They came here to recruit me, actually. They'll listen to what I have to say, I'll try and get your butler out of this, alright?"

"Thank you Usopp." Kaya said, smiling warmly. Usopp ran off, following them, while Merry rushed to the window.

"Were those people all intruding?"

"You know Usopp's welcome here."

"Klahadore doesn't like him."

"Well, in this instance, Klahadore is wrong... maybe this will be good for him, if Usopp helps him deal with all of this... pirate stuff, then maybe the two of them will get along together better!"

* * *

"Hate... Just... keep hating... the HATE... makes the pain go away..." Kuro manged, swimming to shore. He was lucky he was a powerful man. His legs especially. The power that let him do the pussyfoot maneuver, run faster than a person can see, was what was letting him swim the great distance despite the ache in his arm and in his back.

"I'll kill every last one of them!" He growled. "I just need to sneak up on him!" He said, grinning, "I just... no, no, I am Kuro of a thousand plans, I don't just... mindlessly rampage. I... need to think..."

Gecko island was slowly growing in the distance, he'd be able to reach it before nightfall, he hoped. The man who had appeared, the man from the future... he was monstrously powerful. More powerful than any Marine Kuro had fought, or any rival pirates. But he heard the tales of the Grand Line same as anyone in former line of work. He had heard of Devil Fruit, and men who could block cannonballs with their hands, sinking ships with kicks, slicing things a distance away with the simple air pressure from a sword.

Techniques that seem impossible, but then again, Kuro had mastered an 'impossible' technique himself.

He needed a plan. Jango would arrive in less than two weeks. He needed to remove all suspicion of himself, and to silence the pirates who knew his plan somehow, either by making sure they leave the island for good, or by killing them...

But the problem was that monstrous strength, and the speed to match his own. Sure, Kuro hadn't had his Cat Claws, but he wasn't sure it would help him against a fighter as fast or faster than he himself was.

Perhaps the Usopp boy. The pirate from the future had mentioned the boy by name. Usopp mattered to the pirate from the future. Kuro grinned. He could use that.

* * *

"Wow!" Lu said. "It's perfect!"

"I know right! I'm so glad to see her again!"

"She fast?" Zoro asked, putting his hand on the ship.

"Yep! She got us anywhere we needed to go with no trouble." Luffy said, smiling up at his ship. It had been a long time since he had sat on the Merry's figurehead. It was just as nice as he remembered. he used to guard it a bit jealously, but he found that Lu sitting there didn't trigger that. He supposed it was just as much his younger self's special seat as his.

"Look, guys, we need to talk to Kaya about this, you can't just steal her ship!" Usopp protested.

"Why not? We're pirates." Zoro replied.

"But... this is Kaya's ship!"

"Kaya gave it to us last time as saying thanks for keeping Kuro from killing her, and to make sure you would have a safe ship, Usopp." Luffy said.

"Have... you seen him, by any chance?" Usopp asked, choosing to ignore the time travel story for now.

"Yep!" Luffy said, grinning. "You don't have to worry! I beat him up and kicked him way out into the ocean!"

Usopp stared at him, mouth hanging wide open. "WHY?!"

"Because he was an asshole!" Luffy justified. "He was going to kill you and Kaya and a bunch of the villagers!"

"No he wasn't!" Usopp said, "I mean, the guy was a jerk, but he never hurt anyone!"

Luffy sighed. This was harder than he thought. "Well, what was I supposed to do? Just wait until he actually tried to kill you? That'll happen... days from now! I don't want to wait that long! I'm late to meet Nami as it is!"

"Look, I still don't even believe you're from the future." Usopp said. "I should know, I'm a professional liar. I've won the international lying tournament nine years in a row!"

"Really?!" Lu asked, impressed.

"You never told me that Usopp!" Luffy said, even more impressed.

"There definitely isn't an international lying tournament." Zoro said, looking a little annoyed with his two captains. "And if there was, Usopp didn't win it when he was eight."

"Aw..." both Luffys said, disappointed.

Zoro looked Usopp in the eye. "Look, a few days ago, Lu, the younger one, had never seen that guy before. They look almost the same, right? They aren't brothers, and he's predicted the future before."

"It's just too impossible!"

"And they're both way too stupid to be making all this up." Zoro said.

"Hey!" both Luffys shouted, angry.

"...Oh God you're right." Usopp muttered in realization. "But... I don't think that it excuses beating up Kuro. Are you sure you weren't just confused?"

"Well, it doesn't matter any more. I sent him flying." Luffy shrugged. "So, are you coming with us? We need to go find our navigator!"

"I... give me some time to think about it. I also want you to apologize to Kaya!"

"Why should I apologize for saving her!"

"You killed her butler!" Usopp shouted.

"He could have lived." Luffy said, shrugging. "All I did was break his arm toss him far out into the ocean. He could have swam away or got picked up by a ship or something."

"...THAT WOULD KILL ANYONE!"

"Nah." Zoro said. "I bet I could make it to the next island with a broken arm."

"Are you stupid too?!"

Lu smiled. "Nope! We're just really tough. Me and that Luffy couldn't though, because we can't swim!"

Usopp sighed. "Crap, this is really bad! I have to tell Kaya you killed her butler!"

Luffy sighed. "Why is this all so complicated! He was a jerk, he tried to kill Kaya, so I launched him into the ocean!"

"And what I'm saying, is why would I believe you!?"

"Aggggh" Luffy growled. "Just join my crew! We have the Merry Go, I just need you now!"

Lu shrugged. "Hm, should we go looking for that butler guy?"

"It'd take us forever to find him." Zoro said. "Even with a ship."

"We should look anyway!" Lu said. "Usopp isn't joining us until he know we were telling the truth, right?"

"...Yeah." Usopp said. "If you guys are telling the truth, then just that alone means that sailing with you guys would be an adventure that puts my lies to shame. I mean, I've always meant to set out for the Grand Line myself someday, become a great warrior of the sea, meet my Dad, look him in the eye, pirate to pirate..." he then got a determined look in his eyes. "But if you're lying, that just means you're some guys who showed up, stole from my best friend, and beat up her servant."

Luffy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Alright! That's fair." He said. "But how to prove it..."

"The Vivre Cards?" Zoro suggested.

"Yeah! Usopp, look at this!" Luffy pulled out the journal, flipping to Usopp's page. The sniper looked down at the piece of paper, not understanding.

"What am I supposed to be seeing here?"

"A Vivre Card is something people use in the New World." Luffy explained. "Er, the second half of the Grand Line."

"Oh, cool. So what does it do?"

"See how it's in the corner facing you? A Vivre Card will always point towards a specific person! This is yours!"

"Huh." Usopp said, "Okay? How does it work?"

"It's made from your finger nails." Luffy said with a grin."

"Ewww." Lu said, backing away from the cards.

"You stole my finger nail clippings?!"

"No, no, see, this card is set to you, right? And it can only be made in the second half of the Grand Line. And to make it, you basically need the person right there! So!"

Zoro grinned. "It means that you were in the New World with him, in order to make the card."

"Huh..." Usopp said, staring down at the little piece of paper. He circled around, and the piece of paper shifted to the other side of its pocket, following him. "Wow!"

"So you believe me?"

"Well... not one-hundred-percent." Usopp admitted. "But, once again, this is too complicated for someone as simple as you to make up."

"Thanks." Luffy said, a little irritated. "Finally! We can leave!"

"No, we can't!" Usopp said, "We still need to convince Kaya!"

"Why?!"

"I can't just run off without letting her know what happened!"

"Agggh." Luffy moaned.

* * *

Kuro dragged himself onto shore, shambling his way into town. Nightfall had come, and the people of Syrup village were asleep in their homes. He headed for the mansion, trying to think of his next move. The pirate from the future had power over him. He was faster, stronger. Not smarter, certainly, but stubborn and impulsive enough that Kuro would be unable to negotiate with him.

He didn't have many options. The plan would have to be stepped up.

As he approached the gate to Kaya's mansion, the door guards, surprisingly on high-alert for once, lifted up a lantern. "Who goes there!"

"It's... It's me, Klahadore!" He croaked out, playing up the pain. "Please, I need to speak to mistress Kaya immediately!"

"Oh god, Klahadore!" one shouted, rushing over. The other swung open the gate, running towards the mansion, presumably to get help.

There were only a few servants in the mansion. The building needed upkeep, but having only one mistress who was mainly confined to her room made things easy to take care of.

They pulled him inside, covered him in a blanket, and a servant rushed off to find a doctor to look at him.

"What happened?"

"Kaya said that you were taken by a pirate!"

"Was the ship stolen?

Kuro winced in pain as he moved, making sure the sound was audible. It shut the servants up for a second, while he took those moments to decide, once and for all, which story he should stay with.

"...It happened rather quickly." He began. "I had heard shouting in the direction of the shore, and I feared for Merry's ship, I went to investigate, finding a man in a straw hat standing aboard the ship. When I ordered him to leave it alone, he led me up the hill, and ordered me to stay quiet while he stole the ship. I refused, of course, so he broke my arm. At that point, I was too much in pain to say anything, he threatened me once more, this time saying he would throw me into the sea, hoping my broken arm would do me in."

"Oh dear God, Klahadore, I'm so sorry!"

"It was harrowing, to say the least. He took me on the ship, and tossed me into the ocean a distance from shore. I've been swimming, relying only my legs, back here since."

"I'll wake the mistress-"

"No!" Klahadore shouted. "No, I... don't wake her. She's been under enough stress already. There'll be plenty time to worry her in the morning. For now, I just want some rest, and perhaps someone to set my arm correctly."

The servant came back with a doctor from the village, and Kuro was taken care of. That night, despite his exhaustion, he didn't sleep a wink. The moment he dozed off, the pirate might come for him. The moment he got some privacy, he dug his cat claws out of storage, bringing them nearby his bed, keeping his hand nearby it.

In the morning, he would set his plan into motion. He was disappointed, to say the least. Three years he had been planning Kaya's murder in his scheme to achieve luxury and peace of mind. He had come to Syrup Village in order to escape the fear of bounty hunters and rival pirates hunting him down. Now that the pirate from the future was here, he either needed to leave, or he needed to alter the plan.

The pirate from the future was obviously one of the sentimental idiotic types Kuro despised. He had come all the way to the East Blue to look for a single replaceable crew mate, after all. Someone as pathetic as Usopp couldn't have been essential. That meant that the only real option he had left was taking hostages.

It'd be a hassle, in the long-run, but workable.

He'd get Kaya alone, and convince her of his version of the story before she meets up with Straw Hat again. Usopp will trust the girl, and will be willing to work with Kuro in order to find the best solution to the pirate problem. He would take that opportunity to capture Usopp. He would then explain to the Straw Hat, in a way that he will be outside of grabbing distance, that he has Usopp's life in his hands. The pirates will take the fall for murdering Kaya, rather than Jango, and in exchange, Kuro will release Usopp.

In order to make sure they stay away from the island permanently, Kuro will make sure to tell Straw Hat to his face, that he will throw his entire being into taking out Usopp should he ever come back again. The pirate from the future may be stronger, but Kuro would still be able to murder Usopp in an instant, and the pirate will know that.

He would wait until he got confirmation that Straw Hat was out of the area, and then he would sell the mansion, and everything else, and move to another island. Another tiny, quiet place, without letting anyone in Syrup know exactly where. With Kaya's money, he could still sit in the lapse of luxury. He'd even have an excuse- why would he want to stay in the mansion where his ward was murdered? And with that, Kuro will have removed the risk of Straw Hat finding him for revenge later on.

Klahadore would finally get his quiet life.

* * *

"Look, we can't just march in there uninvited!" Usopp said, standing in front of Luffy. "Just... let me handle this, okay?"

"Alright." Luffy said.

"And then you'll come with us?" Lu asked.

"Yeah, I will." Usopp said with a grin. "You guys have such a crazy life already. If I stick with you, I'm going places." He gestured at Luffy. "Heck, it's practically guaranteed I become one of the strongest warriors of the sea! I'm not going to give that up! Even if Kaya... doesn't believe me." He grinned. "After all, once I'm known throughout the world as the Pirate King's sniper, I can just come back here, and I can tell Kaya about my adventures, and she'll know I'll be telling the truth then!"

"Yeah." Luffy said, grinning widely. "We'll shoot past Raftel and come back out on the other side this time! Everybody'll get to go home!"

Usopp nodded, before heading up to the gates.

The three pirates waited outside, a good distance away. In the middle of the night, nobody at the mansion would see them and cause a panic.

"Hey! I need to speak to Kaya!" Usopp shouted, sneaking past the gate and standing in front of the main door. A minute later, it creaked open, a servant seeing him. The servant huffed, and was about to slam it back in his face before he stuck his foot into the door. "It's about Kaya's ship, and her butler!"

"...Then you had better come in."

She led him into the main room, where Usopp froze at the sight of the village doctor sleeping on a couch, his equipment strewn about the room. "What's wrong?!" He asked quickly. "Why is the doctor here, was Kaya hurt?"

"No, Klahadore returned. He swam back to shore after a nasty pirate broke his arm."

He looked toward Merry in shock. Well, at least he wouldn't have to apologize to Kaya for killing him. Usopp frowned, remembering what Luffy had said about Klahadore. The man was apparently plotting to murder Kaya and him. He was beginning to believe Luffy about the future, but the idea of Klahadore being a killer was a harder pill to swallow. "Is he here?"

"Yes, he's sleeping off the pain in his room. The break was pretty nasty. And on top of that, he had been swimming for hours."

Usopp bit his lip. "I need to talk to him. Him and Kaya both."

"He needs to sleep, Usopp, and he requested that Kaya not be woken, for the sake of her health as well."

"This is important. It's about the pirates who tossed Klahadore into the ocean. They're still on the island."

"Oh, ha-ha, Usopp. The pirates finally came, so you're switching your cry to the 'pirates are here'?" one of the servants said, frowning.

Usopp stared him down, before marching towards Kaya's room. The servants made to stop him, but he swung the door open and entered, knocking on it as he passed into the room. Kaya stirred quickly, wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Whuh...Usopp?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's me." He said. "Look, I talked with the pirates, they've brought the ship back and want to talk to you."

"What about Klahadore!?"

"They... well, they tossed him into the ocean, and roughed him up. But he's in the other room. Asleep. He swam back to shore."

"Oh thank God."

Usopp looked behind him at Merry and the other servants. "Can... we talk privately for a little while?"

"Klahadore would never-" Merry began.

"Klahadore isn't here!" Kaya said harshly. "He's asleep, and is not in his right mind to be giving any orders to the staff. And besides, he's always been wrong about Usopp!"

Merry frowned. "I can't just let... him... stay in your room alone with you at night!"

"Oh god Merry." Kaya said, scrunching her face up. "Just let me and Usopp talk."

"...Fine. But if I hear anything-" Usopp shut the door on him, sighing in relief. Walking over to her bed, he leaned against the wall near it, looking to Kaya.

"Well, I've got a new story for you. But this one is true."

"Usopp, I love your stories, but I just want to know about what happened, did you really bring the ship back?"

"Yeah. And... when this stuff about Klahadore is all over, I'm getting back on it, and I'm joining them. We're heading for the Grand Line."

"What?!" Merry creaked the door open. "Close it!" Kaya commanded. The goat-man sighed and did as he was told. "Why Usopp?"

"I've always wanted to be a pirate, head out there, experience the sea, see what my dad was willing to leave me and Mom behind for..." he looked out the window, into the distance. "And they came here to recruit me. They trust me, and... well, apparently this is the second time I've done it. Their leader says he was sent back in time from the future." He held up his hands to stop Kaya from interrupting before she could even open up her mouth. "We live in a weird world, and he actually has some decent proof. The reason he beat up Klahadore is that... apparently in the future Klahadore tries to kill the two of us."

"What?!" Kaya asked. Both stopped, looking towards the door. When Merry didn't make a reappearance, she turned back to Usopp. "That's impossible! Earlier you said he was 'up to something' but Klahadore would never hurt me!"

"I know you feel that way Kaya. I didn't want to believe it either, but a guy from the future-"

"Then he's obviously lying!"

"He has a piece of paper from the Grand Line. One that's made from someone's finger nails. It always points towards the person who's nails it was made from. He has one that points to me."

"That's... creepy, but still not proof! Even if the paper is real, why does it have to be made from your nails, or be from the New World?"

"These guys really aren't smart enough to think of something that complicated if it weren't real." Usopp said, grinning a little. "You met them earlier, right?"

"The green-haired one seems crafty enough."

"Not if you spend some time with him." Usopp said. "He's half asleep half the time, and can get lost on a straight path."

Kaya frowned. "You can't just ask me to believe the man who's been raising me for the last three years, who showed up on our door-step half starved and begging for a job, to be some kind of murderous pirate!"

"I know." He said, sighing. "But I wanted to tell you all the same."

"Usopp, don't go with them. They're pirates, they're lying to you, and they've already hurt Klahadore and stolen Merry's ship!"

Usopp bit his lip, and then looked down at her. "I'm going to have a talk with Klahadore too. And I want you to be there when it happens."

"That shouldn't be too difficult." Kuro said, walking into the room with a pronounced limp.

"Klahadore!" Kaya said, "You're okay. Usopp told me, but I was so worried."

Usopp pulled out his slingshot, aiming it at Kuro. "Don't take a step closer." He said.

"You can't honestly believe anything those pirates are saying, can you Usopp?" Klahadore scoffed. "But then, I suppose you are just a pirate's son. It's little wonder you'd forsake Miss Kaya for them."

"I'm not forsaking anyone!" Usopp growled.

"Usopp, put that down!" Kaya said. Usopp grudgingly did so.

"I don't know if I really believe that what they said about you is true. I'm hoping that it's... some kind of misunderstanding. But still, I don't trust you completely."

"How can I prove my innocence?" Kuro asked. "Other than just common sense. I mean, if we are to believe this ludicrous lie, and I am planning on killing Miss Kaya, why would I wait three years to do so? What purpose would that wait have?"

"I don't know." Usopp admitted.

"Look, Usopp. Come with me, I want to speak privately with you. Then you can go back to your pirate friends. Hopefully, we can get through this whole thing peacefully. I don't want Miss Kaya any more involved with this stressful situation.

"Okay." Usopp said, looking at Kaya. "I'll talk with you."

"Klahadore, don't leave! I'm already involved, keeping me uninformed won't make things less stressful for me!"

"Just go back to sleep, Miss Kaya. Please?" Kuro asked, in his best pleading voice. "This has been a hard day for us both. I promise I'll tell you all about it in the morning, when you have a clear head. Me and Usopp will just discuss some things regarding the pirates, and I'll send the little miscreant off. This entire unpleasant ordeal will be over by tomorrow."

"...Okay, Klahadore." Kaya said, looking down at her sheets. "But I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

"Just try for me, please Miss?"

"Alright Klahadore."

Usopp frowned. Klahadore's love for Kaya seemed nothing less than genuine. He followed the man out of the building, and then out of the mansion. "So, what do you want me to tell them-" Usopp began, when there was suddenly a blade at his throat.

"Do not scream." Kuro said, his voice as hard and cold as ice.

"Shit."

"Now then. Follow me." Usopp was pushed from behind, and led away, into the field behind the mansion. Kuro pushed him to the ground, and then placed his knee on Usopp's head. He reached down and dug his fingers into the dirt, pulling away a trap door. "Before Miss Kaya's father died, he showed me this little place. It used to be his private brewery. Some servants stole a few barrels from him a few years back, so he had this place built, and told no one of it, beside Merry. When Kaya's father died, Merry sold the brew and covered up the trap door even further. He thinks that this place is still sealed up. No one is coming to check on you."

"Damn it. Why?! You love Kaya!"

"Ah yes, Miss Kaya. How I love... her father's money." Kuro said. "Tell me, do you think she trusts me more than Merry?"

"...Yeah, probably."

"Wonderful. Then, if she were to die, who would inherit the estate? Merry, or me?"

"You asshole." Usopp growled. "Luffy's going to beat you! He broke your arm, he can break the rest of you!"

"Oh please." Kuro said. "He'll be too worried about you to do anything to me."

"Damn it!" Usopp said, beginning to tear up. Kuro gagged him, and tied his arms and legs together, before dumping him into the cellar. As soon as the trap door was closed, Usopp began to scream out, but through the gag, then the ceiling and ground, his voice couldn't escape to the top.

* * *

Except one 'voice'.

Luffy cracked his knuckles in rage, his eyes becoming pin pricks as he stood up. Both Lu and Zoro stopped their conversation as they turned towards him, not able to sense the Haki that was broiling inside him, but picking up on the sudden change in attitude. " _ **KURO**_!" Luffy screamed. " _ **I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS**_!"

"What happened?" Lu asked. "Is Usopp alright?!"

"Find Kuro." Luffy ordered. "He's in the mansion. Beat him up! He threw Usopp in a hole!"

"Sure." Zoro said. "We've got to protect our newest crew mate."

"We're coming Usopp!" Lu shouted. "But don't you wanna beat him up too?" he asked his older counterpart.

"I'm going to break him out." Luffy said. "Besides, I'm just following the original plan. I'll go find Usopp, you go take out Kuro." He gave them a thumbs-up. "No mercy!"

"Got it!" Lu said, grinning wildly. Wrapping Zoro in an arm before he could protest, Lu launched himself up the hill, and over towards the mansion.

Luffy broke into a run, heading straight towards where his Observation Haki told him Usopp's 'voice' was coming from.

He reared back, and slammed his fist into the ground, sending shockwaves through the dirt all around him. In front of him, the entire hidden room shattered, collapsing into a huge hole. Luffy darted inside, wrenching Usopp from the rubble before a falling wooden support hit him. Pulling the gag from his mouth, Usopp began to cough.

"What the hell Luffy? You nearly brought the whole cellar down on me!"

"Shishishi~, Sorry, Usopp!" He set Usopp down, and got to work on untying his arms. "So, do you believe me about the future yet?"

"Yeah, I believe. That jerk deserved that broken arm, 100%. He told me he's going to kill Kaya for her inheritance!"

"I wonder who else said that."

"Look, I said I believe you now."

"Come on, I don't want to miss the show!"

* * *

"Kuro!" Lu shouted, barging into the mansion. "Come out right now!"

Zoro drew all three of his swords, putting Wado Ichimonji in his mouth.

The servants nervously gathered before them, Merry bravely holding a pistol in his shaking hands. "You two leave right now! Isn't it bad enough you stole the ship and broke his arm?!"

"He just hurt Usopp! After he came to warn you and everything!" Lu protested angrily. "Get out of my way!"

Merry grit his teeth, and fired his gun at Lu's head. The bullet dug a few inches in, causing Zoro to panic, staring in horror as Lu jerked backwards, his head twisting from the impact.

"Lu!" Zoro shouted, his eyes turning towards Merry, full of hate. But before he could do anything, Lu's laughter rang out.

Lu got back up, and turned towards Zoro, showing off his forehead. "I'm made of rubber, remember?" Lu said, "The bullets just bounce off me!"

Zoro blinked, before grinning. "Well, it seems like every member of the crew is a monster then."

"Usopp too?"

"Well..."

"Oh yeah, the nose, I guess."

Merry simply stared in horror, gun smoking in his hand. "Wh-What are you?!"

"Easy!" Lu answered. "We're pirates!"

Kaya walked out of her room at that moment, frightening Merry. "Mistress! Please, go back in your room! It's not safe!"

"No! Look, Klahadore and Usopp are out talking right now. I don't appreciate you insulting him with your lies about Klahadore and the future! Using me against him, it's unforgivable! Just... just take the ship and leave! All the treasure we have, take it, if you leave right now, we won't even call the Navy!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow, looking at Lu. Lu met Zoro's gaze and shook his head. "Nope. We don't need the treasure, we just need Usopp. And your Claw guy just threw Usopp into a hole!"

"What?" Kaya asked, genuinely caught off guard.

"It just happened! Older me is out there pulling him out, and we're here to deal with Claw guy."

"That's not true, Klahadore was just going to take him and talk."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "So then we just have to wait for him to come to us. Good."

"Oh no." Kaya began. "Please! Just leave!"

Lu shook his head. "He harmed one of my precious crew mates! That means he's got to go!"

Zoro looked towards the open gate, meeting eyes with Kuro, who was standing there, mid-step, like a deer caught in headlights.

"KLAHADORE, RUN!" Kaya shouted.

"Damn you pirates!" Kuro screamed, turning around and racing away faster than the average man, but not at all Pussyfoot level. He needed to see where he was going after all.

"After him!" Lu shouted, running out of the mansion, Zoro on his heels.

Kaya and her servants barely had a moment to think about what happened when the ground shook. Something in the back yard had exploded.

"Oh God." Merry said, "This is going to be the worst night of my life."

* * *

Lu's fist shot out, his hand reaching out to grab Kuro, when the former pirate reacted faster than Lu expected, gripping his arm and throwing the boy into the ground. Zoro was quickly behind him, slashing outwards at Kuro.

Kuro jumped backwards, grinding his feet against the ground as he took off running back toward the mansion. Already, despite the impact, Lu was up and chasing him again, stretching out to try and grab him every few seconds. Biting his lip, Kuro pushed up his glasses with the palm of his hand and tried to concentrate as best he could. He shot his legs forward, slamming them onto the ground one after the other, over and over, as he accelerated, until he was able to move faster than an ordinary man could track with his eyes. He tried to aim for the mansion, but with the power he put into each step his body was shot out like a bullet, often in a different angle than what he intended.

Lu and Zoro quickly lost track of him, until part of the mansion wall was smashed in as Kuro ran into it.

The former pirate stopped using the Pussyfoot maneuver, and ran normally back to his room. Kicking open his briefcase, he wrestled to get his Cat Claws on his good hand.

Everything had gone to shit, Kuro decided. He would have to scrap the entire plan. Three years, wasted. He would have to kill everyone, every servant, every pirate. He would have to rely on a sneak attack and the knowledge of Usopp's whereabouts to kill the pirate from the future. From there... he would just have to hope the town of Syrup recognized him, as the only survivor, to be the heir to Kaya's estate.

Dashing back out onto the field, intent on facing the pirates head-on this time, he caught sight of Lu's outstretched fist flying towards him. Jumping in the air, he landed on top of the arm, running across as it contracted to take a swipe at Lu's head. The younger pirate barely managed to dodge the five slashes, letting himself fall to the ground to do so, and kicked out at Kuro as he passed overhead.

The kick didn't connect, as Kuro briefly Pussyfooted himself a few yards away. While the stretching pirate was taking the active route against him, constantly trying to grab and punch him, the swordsman was more passive. He stood there, all three swords at the ready, his whole body tense, as he waited for Kuro to attack him. Deciding to trust in his superior speed, Kuro indulged the man.

Holding out his good arm, claws extended, he kicked the ground, and to him the world became a blur. Whenever something that might be a human came into his vision, he slashed. Each time however, the familiar sensation of his claws catching on flesh was minor, the majority of his claws blocked by the swords.

On the third time he passed close, Zoro got lucky. Zoro spun in place, and his own whirlwind of blades both slapped away Kuro's outstretched claws and managed to slice across Kuro's chest.

Wincing in pain, the former pirate jumped back, staring down at his own blood beginning to ruin his suit even further. "Damn it all!" Kuro swore, before barely noticing, and jumping out of the way of one of Lu's attacks.

"Gomu Gomu no... Spear!" Lu shouted again, jumping up into the air, and then slapping his feet together, arching them forwards and jabbing at Kuro. The former pirate backed up, and then took the opportunity to try and cut off Lu's legs. Zoro rushed up to him in time, managing to catch Kuro's five blades with his three. "Thanks Zoro!" his attention turned towards Kuro. "And with that-" he grabbed onto both shoulders, and then swung his head back. "GOMU GOMU NO-"

"Shit." Kuro said quietly.

"BELLLLL~" Lu's head shot back forward, the whiplash of the rubber sending Lu's head back hard and fast, directly into Kuro's own face. The former pirate was shot backwards a good distance, before colliding with a bush and being sent sprawling over the ground. Lu winced, pulling the remains of Kuro's glasses off his forehead.

Zoro advanced on their fallen foe, swords still out.

Kuro was out cold, his nose bleeding heavily from Lu's headbutt.

"Well, I think that went well." Lu commented.

"Same, that was fun." Zoro said, sheathing his three Katana.

Kaya, followed by her two guards, walked towards them, the two guards holding pistols, aimed at them. "What... what was that?"

"Yeah, he was pretty fast wasn't he!" Lu said, "Older me didn't say anything about being really fast, did he?"

"Can't remember." Zoro said, before bending down to pull the glove off of Kuro's hand. "He did mention the claws though."

"Yep."

"Oh, Klahadore!" Kaya said, opening up her bag and pulling out some bandages. "How did this happen? Why was he... disappearing like that, where did he gets those claws?"

"Don't ask me, he's the one who brought out the claws." Zoro said, handing them over to her.

She hesitates to take them, but does anyway. "Klahadore... why would he have something like this?"

"Because!" Usopp shouted, running up the hill with Luffy, "He was a pirate!"

"Usopp! What happened? Did the pirates beat you up too?!" Kaya said, staring at the bruises and dirt on Usopp's face.

"No, Klahadore beat me up! It was all a trick Kaya, the three years he spent working for you were all to gain his trust, so that you would make him your heir in your will! Then he'd kill you, and inherit your mansion! He said so himself!"

"N-no! That can't be true!"

Luffy walked over to Kuro. "His real name is Captain Kuro." He said simply. Pulling out the rope that tied up Usopp, he began tying Kuro's legs together, as well as tying his hands together at the wrist. Putting his hands on his hips, he gave a satisfied nod at his handiwork, and turned to Usopp, smiling. "Well, let's go, Usopp!"

"Yeah." Usopp said. "Let's."

"You... you can't just leave, Usopp!" Kaya protested, grabbing onto him. "I don't understand any of what's happened..."

"Call the marines." Usopp said, patting her on the shoulder. "Ask them if this guy is Captain Kuro, and don't you untie him until they're sure he isn't."

"You've seen how ruthless he is now, haven't you?" Zoro asked. "And if you look in his stuff, you'll probably find another glove like this. Maybe other weapons too."

"I... I..." she began. "He really did?"

"Yeah." Usopp said sadly.

"...And you're really leaving?"

"The sea's calling for me, just like it did my old man!" Usopp said. "Besides, these guys took care of everything here. I feel like I have to prove myself, now."

Kaya looked into his eyes, before jumping forward. Usopp instinctually caught her before she fell, and she wrapped her arms around him. "Okay, Usopp. The next time you see me, I'll be healthy! And you'll have some new stories to tell me, right?"

"Yeah!" Usopp said, tearing up. "Definitely!"

"Is... is there anything you need?"

"Food!" both Luffy and Lu announced as one. "As much as we can fit on the Going Merry!"

"I... I'll see what I can do."

* * *

"Are you really leaving, Captain?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah!" Usopp said, putting on a brave face. "I'm heading out to sea with them. I'm going to be a real pirate!"

"But what about us? What about the Usopp pirates!" Carrot cried.

"Thanks for everything guys, but... from this moment, the Usopp Pirates are disbanded! I'm heading off to fulfill my dreams and ambitions!" he looked down at the three kids. "And you guys should too. What are you ambitions?"

"To run a tavern." Carrot shouted.

"I'll be a master carpenter!" Pepper promised.

"To be an author!" Onion shouted.

"Keep those dreams alive, got it?" Usopp said. "Swear it to me!"

"We swear!" The three shouted as one.

"Good! And with that... I declare the Usopp Pirates... DISBANDED!"

* * *

"I... I can't believe it." Captain Ripper said, staring down at the man before him and at the archived wanted poster. "We had an official report that you were captured and executed! Your capture is what led to Morgan's rise to power!" Ripper said angrily. "Do you know how much pain you've caused here in Shells Town?"

"Likely not much more or less than the rest of my pirating activities." Kuro said. His voice was devoid of passion. "Tell me, what will happen to me?"

"You're going to be executed, Kuro of a thousand plans. Just like you were supposed to. There's no way for you to weasel out of it this time."

"Hm. I'm willing to negotiate the release of information in exchange for a downgrade of my punishment from 'execution' to 'imprisoned'."

"What kind of information?"

"Simple. If you promise not to kill me, I can give you the entire Black Cat crew."

"...Anything else?"

"That's not enough?" Kuro asked.

"Your crew will likely come into the area soon enough. We'll catch them, or we won't. Your info probably won't alter our chances."

"Then... the ones who defeated me. The one who created that massive hole in the mansion's back yard. The men led by the man in the Straw Hat."

"Did... you say Straw Hat?" Ripper asked.

"Yes. Two brothers wearing a Straw Hat, with the powers of the Devil's Fruit."

"Tell me."

"I want to not be executed."

"Fine." Ripper growled.

"No, I want you write it down on something official first."

Ripper grumbled, getting up and leaving the room. When he returned, he placed a document, one signed, labeled "Stay of Execution; Kuro of One Thousand Plans."

"There are four of them." Kuro said, flipping a piece of notebook paper on its side. "The first is Usopp. The one they picked up here. His father is a member of some pirate crew in the grand line. He has excellent aim, and they referred to him as their sniper." Kuro drew a simple drawing of him. "The second was the Pirate Hunter, Zoro. I recognized his three-sword-stye and green hair. The third and fourth... well, let's just say they're brothers. They have an outlandish story, that the one with the X-shaped scar, the one whose fists smashed that yard like a cannonball, is the older version of the younger, who came back in time from the future."

"...What?"

"The elder is monstrously strong and fast. He was able to catch me when I was moving faster than one can see, and had enough strength to launch me a great distance into the ocean. The younger, and I assume the elder has the same abilities, can stretch his body like rubber. He is immune to bullets, but he still fears blades. His arms, his legs, his neck, they all stretch a great distance. Both wear the same Straw Hat."

"...Thank you for this information."


	6. Welcome to the Baratie!

"OOH NOOO!" Buggy shouted, seeing the Fishmen shoot through the water like bullets. Nami grinned slightly, from where she sat in her cage. Arlong and his crew would make short work of the clown's ship. "Nami! You led us into a trap!"

"Of course I did, can't you recognize the tattoo on my shoulder?"

"Grrr, I should throw you into the ocean right now!"

"Go ahead!" she dared. "Then my crew can just break me out."

"AGH!" Buggy gripped the sides of his head in frustration.

Cabaji rushed forward "Captain! They're holding the rudder! We're dead in the water."

"Damn it all!" he pointed at Nami, "this is you fault!"

She simply made a cute face in response, who, me? "Well, now, mister clown, unless you want Arlong to sink your entire carnival, I think you should listen to me."

"WHO DID YOU CALL A CLOWN?!"

"YOU!" Nami shouted back. "Now let me out, or Arlong'll sink your ship. I know you're a Devil Fruit User. A fishman's your worst enemy."

"Damn you girl..." he glared at Cabaji. "Get the key. Now you fool!"

"But Captain Buggy, how do we know they won't sink us on the spot? He'll turn us into a big red splatch of blood on the bottom of the sea the moment he finds out there's nothing else we have that he wants!"

"WHO'S GOT A BIG RED NOSE?!" Buggy roared, grabbing Cabaji by the neck.

Nami laughed. "Y'know, if you let me go, Arlong has a weakness. I'll tell you~"

"He does?!"

"The cage, mister clown."

"Grr... The Key! I won't ask again!" Buggy ordered, and Cabaji got to his feet, running to look for it. "You'll get what you want, but if you betray us... I don't care if the fishmen kill us, I'll make sure you're coming with me!"

"Don't worry, don't worry."

Cabaji returned with the key, handing it off to Buggy, who quickly opened the cage. "Now, Arlong's weakness!"

"Money."

"MONEY?!" Shouted the crew.

"Arlong is a savage monster, who absolutely hates all humans... but he can tolerate anyone if they share enough dough. Forgive anyone."

"You want us to bribe him into letting us go?"

"Oh yes." Nami said. "Plus interest."

"INTEREST?!"

She shook her head, as if she were talking to children. "Oh come on, Buggy, you're a pirate, why would you bother making a deal with someone to take all their treasure, when you can already just take it by force?"

"What are you saying?"

"You're going to let me go, and you're going to hand over your cash to the fishmen, and then you're going to give me every treasure map you've got."

"...NO!" Buggy shouted, grabbing her neck. "No I will not be. Boys! Bring out the special Buggy Cannon!"

"Uh oh." Nami said. "GUYS! HELP!" She shouted, "They're going to kill me! Just sink the ship!" In response, the sound of wood creaking and breaking began to come from below.

"BOSS! PLEASE!" the pirates begged. "Just give her what she wants!"

Buggy twitched and fumed, his face turning as bright red as his nose. Finally, with a great deal of willpower, he threw her overboard. "TAKE YOUR STINKING NAVIGATOR!" He roared. "AND TAKE MY STINKING TREASURE!" He turned to his crew. "Grab everything that's worth anything and begin throwing it overboard. We're leaving."

"No you're not." Nami said, Hachi carrying her on his shoulder and setting her on the deck of the ship. "I said interest, remember? Your treasure maps. Including the one I stole earlier."

Buggy fumed, and reached for his knife, but Hachi noticed and reached for his six swords at the same time. The two made eye contact, and Buggy sighed irritably. "If I ever see you again, girl... know that I shall have my flashy revenge!" He walked into his quarters, coming back with several scrolls of paper.

"Thank you." Nami said, smiling.

She took the papers, and Hachi grabbed her, carrying her off the ship and back into the water. "So Nami, anything interesting on those maps?"

"Well, they'll likely mostly be duds, but who knows." Nami said.

"So... how did you end up getting captured, getting sloppy?"

"A bit." Nami admitted, sighing. "I can't believe I needed you guys to come rescue me."

"You're our cartographer." Hachi said cheerfully.

"Yeah. And if I didn't lead them back here, I'm sure Arlong would have gladly gone all the way out into the middle of the East Blue for me, right?"

Hachi looked to the side nervously, "Well..." Hachi smiled. "He at least doesn't think you're worthless."

Nami sighed, looking at Buggy's treasure getting collected by the fishmen. All of that could have gone into her funds for saving the village. Instead it'll just line Arlong's pocket. At least this would sate the sharkman for a while. He'd be more lenient of her future expeditions, now that he knows occasionally he'll get a cut of her thievery all to himself.

As they reached land, she pulled out a map, one of the Grand Line. Anyone who was anyone knew that was where the real wealth was. Pirates flocked there, with bounties in the hundred-millions, and hoards of stolen Beli even greater than their bounties.

Just one more expedition, and she'd have everything she needed to buy back Cocoyashi village. This was just a minor setback.

In her mind, she began to calculate the route to Loguetown. And from there, the Grand Line.

* * *

Luffy was uncharacteristically silent, staring out over the sea. Usopp and Lu were having the time of their lives, exploring every nook and cranny on the ship. He had wondered if he would have to paint the flag over again, but it seems that Usopp and Lu had already decided to go with the Straw Hat on a jolly roger. It was nice to see his old symbol again.

Zoro was napping in the crow's nest. For the first time since he came back, he was feeling... less than thrilled. Seeing Zoro had been amazing, as well as seeing Usopp. But looking over them on the Merry Go, he began to remember the loneliness from before.

 _He had set out when he was seventeen. He was just about eighteen when he reached Saobody. After that, he spent two years on the island, training his Haki. And then he spent a year in the New World. He had taken down Doflamingo, beaten Big Mom and Kaidou. Met up with Shanks._

 _But then Blackbeard was there. Right at the end, waiting for them. And the marines had never stopped chasing either._

 _Raftel was there, almost within sight, and Blackbeard's fleet stood in front of him, and the full might of the Marines and the remaining Warlords were behind him. The Straw Hat Grand Fleet was trapped._

 _It was a bloodbath. Luffy had given as much as he had taken, but he gave too much._

Back in the present, Luffy shut his eyes. He shuddered, and tried to think back on the here and now. He had the Merry Go, he had Zoro, he had Usopp. And, well, he had himself. Those were all good things. Very good.

"Oi! Luffy!" Usopp shouted, waving to him. "Come over here."

Luffy got up, and jumped over to where their sniper was waiting. "You finished the sail?"

"Yep!" Usopp said proudly. It had taken a while to recreate the design on the entire sail. "Now do you appreciate my genius?"

"Yeah!" Luffy said, patting Usopp on the back. "We're the Straw Hat Crew again!"

"Shishishi~" Lu laughed. "Let's celebrate then!" He went for the food below deck, but Usopp grabbed onto him. It didn't really stop the younger captain, as he just kept running, letting the arm Usopp grabbed simply stretch.

"Hold on! We've been at sea for only a few days, and we've already gone through almost all the food!"

"We should fish then!" Lu said, changing direction to get the rods.

Luffy grinned and joined the two of them, looking out over the ocean.

As they fished, he thought about what he wanted to do next. The whole ordeal with Kuro had been a disaster. He supposed it didn't matter in the long run, he got Usopp to join just fine, and he had gotten the Merry. But nothing else went well. Kuro was sneaky, and had almost hurt Usopp, and Kaya and those guys didn't believe him at all. Luffy didn't actually care much about what Kaya or anyone else thought. But Usopp cared about her. She was his friend, and the village was precious to Usopp. But Luffy didn't have any idea how he could have handled it better.

Kuro was sneaky, and they didn't believe Luffy, or even Usopp.

Maybe it would have been better if he didn't tell them he was from the future at all.

"Hey Lu." Luffy said, looking over at the younger one.

"What? Did you catch something?!"

"No, not yet." Luffy grinned, setting down his pole. "Come here for a second."

"Hm? Okay." Luffy led the way down into the deck, and Usopp warned them again about the food supply.

"Don't worry! It's only a little sake!" Luffy shouted back. As he found two bowls, he got out the sake. Lu's eyes widened, once he realized what was happening.

"Wait, why? We're not brothers, we're the same guy!"

"No, we're different." Luffy said sharply. "We have different memories. And I'm older than you." he pushed a cup in Lu's direction. "Besides, what's one more older brother?"

"...We should do this with Ace and Sabo, shouldn't we?"

"Why? We already both exchanged cups with them both." Luffy said happily. "The only one we haven't done this with is each other."

"...Okay." Lu said, sitting down crosslegged across from Luffy. "So we're brothers, then?"

"Yeah." They did the simple ceremony, taking a sip from their cups, and each other's.

"Should we tell the others?"

"Why not?" Luffy said, walking back out. "OYYY ZORO, WAKE UP!"

"Meh?" Zoro muttered, leaning over the edge of the crow's nest to stare down at them with sleep eyes.

"We have an announcement!" Lu said cheerfully.

The two of them chained their arms together, and then held them up in a triumphant pose. "From now on, we're the Monkey brothers, got it!?" the two of them shouted at the same time.

"Got it!" Usopp said with a grin. "You basically might as well have been before anyway."

"Meh." Zoro said, acknowledging the event, before promptly returning to dreamland as he let himself fall back to the floor of the crow's nest.

"Luffy and Lu!" Luffy said.

"You should be Lu!" Lu shot back. "You're the new one!"

"I've been Luffy longer!" he argued back, having fun. "Besides, Zoro picked it out. It's nice, right?"

"Fine." Lu said. "But once I'm the King of the Pirates, I get to choose a new name for you!"

"Yeah?" Luffy said, raising an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

"You're going to be Anchor!" Lu said, before sticking out his tongue.

"HAH!"

* * *

"Wait, wait, Johnny and Yosaku?"

"Yeah, we meet them in the area nearby the Baratie." Luffy says. "And they join us when we meet Sanji, and stay with us until we defeat Arlong in Fishman island."

Zoro smiled. "I haven't seen those guys in a while. But weren't we going to try and get Nami first?"

Luffy sighed. "She's moved again! And Usopp checked with the map, and he thinks she went back to where Arlong is."

"Then why don't we go there first, and then pick up Sanji?"

"Because I don't want Sanji to miss out on fighting the fishmen!" Luffy said. "But then again, Nami might be in danger! But then again, if we don't go to the Baratie, Krieg will get Sanji!"

"Huh." The four had gathered around a map of their portion of the East Blue. None of them were as good at reading it as Nami, not even close, but Usopp had a general idea of where they were. And with the Vivre Card leading them, they could at least guess where Sanji and Nami were.

"I think we should get this Sanji guy first." Lu said. "We need a cook! And a musician!"

"He's not a musician, Lu, just a cook." Usopp said.

"I know that! I'm just saying."

"I think we should aim for the Baratie too." Zoro said. "And make sure to pick up Johnny and Yosaku. Do you have Vivre Cards for them?"

"No, you can only make them in the New World, rememeber? They stayed here." Luffy said, frowning at the map. "We're two weeks ahead of what happened in my timeline. So we should have some time before Johnny and Yosaku get sick of gravy."

"From scurvy." Usopp corrected.

"Right, scurvy. And before Don Krieg attacks Sanji. We could grab Nami, go to the Baratie, and then head back to the fishmen?" Luffy offered.

"If we're going to be in Arlong park, we should kick his ass when we have the chance!" Lu said. "We should just grab Sanji first."

Usopp looked between the three of them. "Well, as Captain-"

"You're not the captain!" both Luffys shouted.

"-it should be up to me to be the deal breaker." Usopp met eyes with Zoro. "You want to get your bounty-hunter friends, and bring them to the restaurant, right?"

"Yeah."

"And Lu, you want to grab Sanji next, right?"

"Well, I want to meet Nami too."

"But Sanji first?"

"If we want him to help in fighting the guys who hurt Nami, yeah!"

"And I want to stay away from fishmen for as long as possible." Usopp said. "So we have a majority. We're heading to the Baratie next."

Luffy looked around at his crew mates, who had unanimously voted against him, before shrugging. "Alright. But we're not going to just wait there for Krieg to show up, are we? We didn't wait for the Jango people."

"The marines will take care of that." Usopp said, confident. "Gecko island has almost never had a pirate attack."

"But the Marines won't be able to stop Krieg, I don't think." Zoro said. "We probably should wait for him." He looked Luffy in the eye. "Not to mention, I'm not passing up this chance to duel Mihawk."

"Fine! We'll do Baratie first. And then we're going to go get Nami!"

* * *

Nami stopped by her house and began to ruffle through her supplies. As always, Nojiko appeared out of nowhere, standing at the doorway. "Heading out already?"

"Don't worry about a thing, Nojiko." Nami said, putting on a mask of confidence. "That was just a fluke! I'll just pop over to the Grand Line and be back really quick with a ton of treasure. Then Arlong will finally just leave our village alone!"

"Nami... why do you push yourself like this?" She said sadly. "The next time Arlong lets you sail away... just keep sailing."

"I can't do that Nojiko."

"Belle-mere would have wanted you to," her sister said, "she would have wanted you to live."

"I can't just abandon you and Gen and everyone else." Nami protested. "And I'm so close, Nojiko. I'm so close. I promise, just one more trip, and I'll have enough to buy back everything." She smiled, weakly. "Don't worry. This village will be free before you realize it!"

Her sister frowned, but didn't push the issue. When Nami got upset, she started taking it out on the furniture and the windows. She had spent the last seven years trying to get the girl to stop, to just run away from the island and leave them to their fate, but Nami wouldn't have it. She was too devoted to Cocoyashi.

* * *

"Hmm, this _seems_ right." Luffy said, looking out over the rocky area ahead of them. "Johnny and Yosaku were resting under a rock around here."

"But in your world, that was... what, a week from now?" Usopp said.

"Yeah." Luffy said, looking around. He sucked in a breath, his chest growing three sizes from the sheer amount of air he took in, "OIIIII! JOOOOHNNNY! YOOOSAKUUU!"

"Crap!" Zoro winced, backing away and slamming his hands over his ears. "Warn us before you do something stupid like that!"

"I can shout even louder!" Lu said, climbing up the mast to look over a larger distance. His chest inflated, taking a deep breath for maximum shouting. " _JOOOOOOOOOOOOHNNNY_!"

"Gah!" Usopp and Zoro both winced, trying to find shelter from their captains' new competition.

"Oh yeah?" Luffy sucked in even more air, going full Balloon Luffy. " **YOOOOOOOOOOOOSAAAAAAAAAAAAKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!** " the ship creaked as the rush of air from Luffy pushed the entire ship slightly further into the water.

"STOP IT!" both Zoro and Usopp cried.

"Ha!" Lu said from the crow's nest, "I see them! They're coming up from some other rocks!"

"Wait, really?" Zoro asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah!" Lu grinned. "I'm going to go say hi!" Gripping the railing of the crow's nest, he jumped off the other end, letting gravity carry him down a few yards before his arms snapped back into shape, launching him past the crow's nest high into the air. He flew a good ways over the rocks, landing on top of one nearby.

"Wait for us!" Luffy shouted, before turning to his two crew mates, "come on, let's go say hi. At least we didn't shoot them this time, but Zoro should probably be one of the first they meet anyway."

"Probably." Zoro grinned. "It's been a while since I saw Johnny and Yosaku." he turned and headed into the ship, to grab the limes Yosaku would need.

When they came close to the rock the two bounty hunters had been resting at, they were treated to the sight of Lu dancing between the two of them as they attempted to hack him apart.

"Die, Pirate! We're the fearsome bounty hunters Johnny and Yosaku, we've taken down some of the worst criminals in the world!" Johnny bragged.

"A small fry like you is nothing but a flea for us to crush!" Yosaku added. "So!" he slashed "Just!" he stabbed "Hold still!" his last lunge left him near the edge of the flat area of the rock, where Lu simply nudged him forward, sending him falling into the ocean.

"Yosaku!" Johnny cried.

"Hey!" Zoro called. "Be careful, he's supposed to be weak right now."

"B-Brother Zoro?!" Johnny shouted, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Long story short, I'm sailing with these guys now-" Zoro looked at Luffy, who simply shrugged "-and we heard you were in the area. Wanted to see how you were doing."

"Oh, Brother Zoro, it's been so long!" Johnny said, Zoro jumped down from the ship, helping Lu, who couldn't reach into the ocean safely, drag Yosaku out of the water "But why are you with pirates, of all things?"

"The Captains here saved my life. Saved my swords too. I owe them both a lot, possibly more than I can ever pay back." Zoro grinned. "Besides, the best swordsman in the world is a pirate too."

"...Do you have a bounty?" Johnny asked, raising a single eyebrow above his sun glasses.

Zoro smirked, "Why do you ask? Do you think I'd make an easy mark?"

"No, just wondering." Johnny slapped him on the back, "But I wouldn't dream of going after you. Even if you are the scum of the earth, we don't betray one of our brother's, right Yosaku?"

Yosaku had managed to sit up, and was breathing heavily, bleeding from his mouth. "Y-Yeah, so big brother Zoro's a pirate now. Huh, what a world."

"You don't look like you're doing so well Yosaku." Zoro said seriously, looking over to Luffy, who nodded and grabbed the mug of lime juice.

"I uh, I'm just a little under the weather. I probably picked something up, somewhere. We were just going to rest here for a little while, til I got better."

"So you brought a lot of food with you? Any fruit?"

"Nah, we didn't bother." Johnny said, waving the idea off. "You know how fast stuff like that goes bad out at sea. We've mostly been living off of beer, bread, and cheese."

"You guys like limes?" Luffy asked jovially, handing the mug over to Yosaku, who began chugging it as soon as he breathed in the scent.

"Whoah there!" Johnny cautioned. "You're gonna choke."

"I've just been craving this for a while, I guess." Yosaku said gratefully. "Thanks."

"Come up on board." Luffy invited. "It's about time we had lunch anyway!"

* * *

"So, if you knew the Baratie was only a few days away, why didn't you head there yourself once he started getting sick?" Usopp asked the two bounty hunters. "I mean, sure, you didn't recognize the scurvy," both looked a little embarrassed, "but wouldn't going to a bit of civilization be preferable than sitting on a rock for days?"

"Well, we thought it would just pass by." Johnny said. "And uh, we don't make it a habit of going to the Baratie regularly."

"Why wouldn't you?" Lu asked, "Isn't the food really good?"

"The best!" Yosaku shouted. "Their food is amazing, just what a weary sailor needs to rejuvenate... but we honestly can't afford it."

"Bounty hunting is a tough job. Sure, capturing a pirate and getting three or four million beli is good and all, but you'd be surprised where the money goes." Johnny continued. "Medical attention, intel, provisions, repairs for our boat, maintenance for our gear and our swords."

Zoro grinned, "not to mention blowing off about a quarter of the bounty celebrating in a bar right after we get paid."

The two bounty hunters shrugged. "The last time I was there was with a client who had been personally harmed by the low life we had done in. That'd be a about two months after you split from us, Brother Zoro." Johnny explained. "He was so grateful he treated us to a classy meal there."

"And besides the price, we keep away from it on principle. It's nearby the Grand Line. Guys heading for Reverse Mountain or escaping from the Calm Belt show up all the time. Not to mention all the pirates in the area anyway. And it's a favorite of high-ranking marines." Yosaku said.

"And we don't make it a habit of looking for trouble that won't leave us with a pile of cash." Johnny's face broke into a mischievous smirk, "oh! Brother Zoro, I've even heard that that man visits occasionally."

Zoro swallowed. Luffy had told him that he would meet Mihawk there. "Even more reason to check it out."

Luffy nodded. "Yosh! Let's recruit us a sea-cook!"

* * *

Krieg's eyes blurred as he began to lose consciousness. He fought it off once again, looking out over the eerily still horizon. The air was dead, the sun was harsh, and the only time the water moved was when something truly, truly, colossal was rising to the surface.

It was hell. Plain and simple. The Grand Line, it was a trap. One baited with immense fame and fortune, but a trap all the same.

Barely a few days, and his fleet had been wiped out. It took everything his crew had just to save their flagship .

"Admiral..." Gin walked towards him, taking a seat nearby. "I... I see a ship."

"What-"

"Marine."

Krieg swore, glaring at the ship in the distance once Gin pointed it out. "Well, that's it then. We won't be able to take down a marine warship with our own ship in this condition."

"It's only one." Gin said hopefully. "With some MH5 we could-"

"No. No, it wouldn't work. The moment they see us, we're dead. Their cannons alone. Our only hope now would be for them to get a new target..." he glanced down at Gin, before shrugging off his cape.

"Admiral, what's the plan?"

"Sorry about this Gin. I need you to take a lifeboat, and lead them away from us. Shout to the heaven's that you're me. We'll be heading to our old hideout, the one we cleared out. The only one I trust not to sell us out is you."

He didn't hesitate. "Of course Admiral."

* * *

The sight of the Baratie brought a smile to Luffy's face. The fish-shaped restaurant was like something out of an old dream. Off to the side three small sailboats were moored close to the other entrance. There was no sign of Lieutenant Fullbody's, or any Marine, ship, and thus, no reason for him to redirect a cannonball. Although, even if he had, with his added experience he would have known this time around to deflect it to the open ocean, rather than let it hit the restaurant.

Luffy laughed to himself. He would be able to just sit down and eat, rather than be forced to work the damages off in the kitchen while his friends dug into their meals. No Nami here, though.

"What do you think everyone?" Johnny and Yosaku shouted, proudly displaying the Baratie to them.

"Wow!" Lu shouted, rushing to the edge. "What a big fish!"

"Nice!" Usopp complimented. "Looks classy!"

Zoro shrugged.

They docked themselves near the front entrance, and took in the restaurant's decor as they entered. Patty rushed away from where he was talking with some other customers before whooshing over with an impossibly wide smile, "Welcome to Baratie, you squid-faced bastards~!" He moved aside and pointed at a table. "Table for six?"

"Yep!" Lu said, patting his stomach. "This is going to be great!"

He led them inside, looking them over. "So, you're all pretty scruffy to be in an upscale place like this, aren't you? You sure you have enough?"

"Enough what?" Lu asked.

"Money shithead!" Patty said harshly. "We're a place of business, that means we give you fine dining, you eat it, then you give us the money to pay for it!"

"I know that! Sheesh." Lu said, crossing his arms. "We have money, right?"

Usopp blinked, before glancing at Luffy and Zoro. "We... do, have money, right?"

Zoro shrugged once more. "Pocket change."

Luffy reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a wallet. "Don't worry, it's on me! Though..." he looked at Patty and gave an identical impossibly wide smile. "You guys are super expensive! Right?"

"Yep!" Patty said proudly, before deflating. "But don't worry. A good portion of our customers are pirates and fishermen without much, so we have some crappy options you can stick in your face."

"Well, we'll see." Luffy said, before sitting down at the table. Zoro sat across from him, while Johnny and Yosaku sat together between them, while Lu and Usopp sat opposite them. "Bring us some menus!"

"How reliable." Usopp said with a smirk. "How much money do you have on you?"

"Only twenty thousand beli." Luffy said with a shrug. Lu made an impressed noise.

"I thought you were a super-successful bigshot in your old time. Shouldn't you, you know, have enough treasure to wear nothing but gold and use bills as napkins?"

"I'm not going to wear gold! That's heavy! I already sink easily enough." his expression got darker, "And I lost most of my treasure. Anything we were carrying on us when... when everything happened, was lost at sea. The stuff we had hidden elsewhere was too big to carry around too. I was living off of people who were indebted to me, mainly, before I found the Kiro Kiro Fruit User. I didn't exactly stop and fill up on money in preparation!"

"Ah, well, it's good luck you have that much on you anyway." Usopp agreed.

A waiter stopped by with menus, and as the others looked through it, Luffy tapped the man's shoulder. "I'll have the sous-chef's choice. No restrictions!"

"The... sous chef?"

"Yep! As long as he makes it himself, I'll have anything!"

Zoro looked up, curious. "Is the sous-chef our man?"

"Yep!" Luffy said gleefully. "His cooking is the best in the world-" he glanced at the waiter, "-or so I've heard, anyway! Tell him that for me when you tell him, too!"

"Of course. And if anyone has any drinks they'd like to start off with?" the waiter asked.

"Sake." Zoro, Johnny, and Yosaku said simultaneously.

"Of course. And you?"

"Uh... just water for me, thanks." Usopp said.

"I want juice!" Lu said.

Luffy shrugged. "Leave it up to the sous-chef."

The waiter left them, heading into the kitchen, and straight for Sanji, who was in the midst of working on his own dish.

"Sous-Chef!"

"Yeah?" he asked, not bothering to look up.

"A customer's requested a meal from you. He said no restrictions, only that you choose what to make, and you make it yourself. Oh, and he wanted you to choose the drink."

He perked up, surprised. "From.. me, specifically?"

"He told me to tell you, that he heard you were the best cook in the world."

"Well shit! I can't just disappoint him then!" Sanji said grinning, he looked over to Patty, giving him a prideful smirk, "You hear that Patty?! I'm famous! As being the best cook in the world!"

"Sure not this world then, the guy must be from hell!" Patty joked. Sanji flipped him off, and then got to work.

* * *

Sorry for such a long wait between chapters. It's a bad habit of mine. I'll try and keep a better schedule from now on. To begin making up for it, I'll be releasing the next chapter later today, and I'll try to keep up the pace.


	7. Red Leg and Black Leg

Spoilers for post Dressrosa arc, I'm following the manga, not the anime, so consider yourself warned from this point on.

* * *

"Here you are, straight from the master himself!" Sanji shouted, bursting out of the doors with two silver plates with covers, as well as a wine bottle balanced on top of one, and the glasses on the other.

"Over here!" Luffy shouted, barely quelling the urge to jump out and smash Sanji with the biggest hug the man had probably gotten in his life.

"Ah, and who is the one who made the order?"

"That'd be me!" Luffy said with a wide grin, barely able to contain himself. When Sanji set the dish down, Luffy took in a deep breath through his nose, taking in every scent of Sanji's dishes.

"Whoah, snazzy." Usopp commented as the sous-chef gracefully set them out.

"So, might I ask who told you I was the best cook in the world?" Sanji asked, before recoiling in horror as Luffy opened his mouth impossibly wide, and dipping the plate towards it. He essentially shoveled the food into his gullet, and and then slammed down his teeth with a clack once the plate was clean. He chewed noisily for a few moments, making noises not unlike that of an orgasm, before audibly swallowing.

Sanji closed his eyes. Not wanting to believe what he had just seen.

Johnny and Yosaku turned green.

The others all stared in surprise. They had seen Luffy's albatross-style table manners before, but never seen him enjoy it that much.

"~PHEW~" Luffy sighed, almost melting in his chair as tears came to his eyes. "I... I missed that." He said simply, in a massive understatement.

"Oh my god." Johnny muttered.

Sanji opened his eyes. He looked at the empty plate, and then back at Luffy. "...That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen."

"I told you it was the best!" Luffy said cheerfully, before picking up the other plate, and eating it much quieter this time.

"Well... bon appetite, I guess." Sanji muttered, before walking away, still partially in shock.

"I think you may have scared him off." Zoro said quietly.

"You might have just scared me off!" Usopp said, horrified as well. "What was in that?"

"Shishishi~"

Lu gaped at his older self, before standing up in his chair, "Waiter! I want whatever he had! And twice as much of it!"

"Ah- I want seconds too!" Luffy agreed.

* * *

After they had all eaten, Luffy left his wallet with Zoro, before disappearing to go try and recruit Sanji.

He was chased out of the kitchen by the cooks, before he decided to simply go to Zeff directly. He had spent a few days as the restaurant's slave in the previous timeline after all, he was more familiar with this place than some islands.

Crawling through the window, he looked around at the little room, before going over to the bed and simply lying down to rest off the food. He had gone far too long without Sanji's life-sustaining cooking. He had trouble even eating for a little while after he died, which had been a big deal.

Having a meal made by Sanji again for the first time in a long time... it was like a little taste of heaven. He had said it before, merely seeing his nakama again made coming back to the past more than worth it, but after tasting a bit of Sanji's cooking once more he hereby rejected any reality where Sanji isn't cooking.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing in here?"

"Oh! Hey there, just sleeping off the meal!"

"Well get out. This is my private quarters. If you don't want me to launch you right into the sea this instant."

"Shishishi~" Luffy got out of the bed but didn't leave the room. "I wanted to talk to you actually."

"Oh yeah? It better not be any complaints, those who mess with a chef on the sea-"

"Is an idiot, I know. Without a proper sea cook there's all kinds of dangers. And I know never to piss off the sea cook, or you're taking your life into your hands."

Zeff let out a slightly impressed noise, or merely a grunt of acknowledgement. "On the sea you never know when your next meal will be your last, so it's best not to challenge your best source of those meals."

"Yep. And speaking of sea cooks, I'd like to steal away one of yours."

"Meh, I don't decide who stays or goes. Anyone can quit if they want, hell, I encourage a good half of them to, the troublesome bastards that they are." Zeff said, but the tone of his voice was affectionate.

"Sanji, your sous-chef."

"Heh, good luck convincing him." Zeff said, waving him off. "What kind of ship would you want him on, anyway? From the looks of you, you don't look like someone who would work for a luxury ship. We aren't just cooks, we're five-stars!" Luffy raised an eyebrow. "Well, the food is anyway. Not our problem if we don't have the right kind of decor or don't treat our customers as gods when they decide to complain at us."

"I'm the Captain of a ship that's looking for All Blue." Zeff stopped all motion, simply staring at Luffy in amazement. "Among other legends."

"Are you being serious?"

"Yep!"

"It's a fool's dream, you know. Countless idiots have rushed off looking for some kind of paradise sea. What makes you think you'll find it?"

"I know some people who've been there before." Luffy said, but before Zeff could get too excited he added, "Or claimed to at least."

"Is it... a reasonable claim?"

"Sure! After all, they've done plenty of other impossible things!"

"Who are these people?" Zeff asked.

"My best source was Dark King Rayleigh."

Zeff narrowed his eyes, "You've met him?"

"No, not yet. But I know where he is and I'm planning on talking to him. But I have met Rayleigh's old apprentice! He was on Roger's ship too. They've been to every ocean in the world, you know. Including All Blue."

"Sounds impossible." Zeff said simply, but Luffy had an honesty about him, a deep earnestness that someone can feel in their soul. They know, upon seeing his truthful eyes and childlike expression...

That he was too dumb to make up something that crazy.

"But it's true, or at least, it probably is."

"That's... amazing. The boy wants to see All Blue more than anything else. It's his dream..." he looked at Luffy, accusative, "...but how did you know that?"

"Just got a feeling."

"Do you know who I am, boy?"

"Red Leg Zeff? Famous pirate? Spent a year in Paradise looking for All Blue before going to the North Blue, and then... disappearing." Luffy said cheerfully.

"You a bounty hunter?"

"I'm a pirate."

"And you're here for my sous-chef? Why not me?"

Luffy leaned back, and looked Zeff in the eyes. "It's not your dream. Not anymore. You sailed through Paradise for a few months, and then left for easier waters." Luffy said, Zeff winced, anger making his curled mustache twitch.

"You don't know what it's like out there!"

"Yes I do." Luffy said, and Zeff saw once again that Luffy wasn't lying.

"And why would you call the Grand Line paradise?"

"Compared to the New World, the point beyond Fishman island? The first half is Paradise. And All Blue isn't in Paradise, it's an oasis in the depths of Hell."

Zeff let out a breath, slightly amused and finding himself told off by such a younger man. Looking at the proudly displayed scar on his chest, he supposed that the boy must have seen even worse than he did. "Fine. But I didn't give up on my dream. I found a new one. I had gone back to the North Blue to build up resources, get together enough finances to head back into the Grand Line and push all the way to the end! I may be far out of my prime now, without one of my legs, and having years without a decent fight... but back then, I'd like to think I would have made it!"

Luffy smiled, looking at Zeff in a new light. "Found a new dream eh?" Luffy looked down at the floorboard, where even now the scents and sounds of a busy kitchen rose up. "It's a fine treasure you've found. Not as pretty as One Piece, but it's okay."

"It's just okay?! The Baratie is a work of art!"

Luffy laughed, before opening the door. "I'm going to talk to Sanji. I just wanted to let you know."

"Get my permission?"

"Nah, just let you know."

"Fine then. You have my blessing, whether it's wanted or not. The boy needs to get out there, flirt with some girls who aren't paying customers!"

"Shishishi!"

* * *

"Hi there again!"

"Oh god not you!" Sanji said, jumping back as Lu, Usopp, and Zoro looked down at him from the deck above. "Wait... no, you're the younger one. Where's your monster of a brother?"

"He snuck off somewhere." Zoro said.

"He better not be stealing food." Sanji growled.

"We are pirates." Lu said, "what if we are?"

"Then I'd knock you both into the sea and make you stay down there." Sanji threatened, raising a leg.

"I think I get why the Captain thinks we'll be friends." Zoro said with a smile, drawing a sword. "Feel like a friendly brawl?"

"Zoro, fighting him isn't going to exactly make our job here easier!" Usopp warned.

"I'm off the clock, you aren't threatening my restaurant. The only one I feel like kicking is your glutton captain."

Lu glared at Zoro, "Why do you keep saying things like 'the' captain! I'm a captain too!"

"Sorry Captain." Zoro said, genuinely. "It's just, he's more authoritative. He feels more like the captain."

Usopp gave Lu a small smile. "Sorry, but he has a point. Don't worry though you can just call me captain and then-" Lu pinched his lips closed, before letting him go. Usopp laughed a little.

"Hmph." Lu said, feeling down.

"Co-Captains?" Sanji asked.

"Yep! He's an older version of me-" he stopped, before grinning, "well, he's my older brother. One of three!"

"Big family?"

"You have no idea." Zoro said with a grin.

"And you're the youngest child, huh?" Sanji continued, looking at Lu with interest.

"Yep."

"Weakest too?"

Lu sighed, crossing his arms and looking over annoyed.

"I know how that feels..." Sanji said, smiling with some empathy. "What was that thing... with his mouth?"

"Devil Fruit."

"Huh, really?" Sanji asked interested. "What, like the Munch-Munch fruit or something?"

"No. Gum-Gum. We're made out of rubber!"

"Both of you?" Sanji asked, interested. "I've come across some books on Devil Fruit, they always talk about how if you eat one of them, the particular power disappears from the world until the person who ate it dies. How can there be two of you?"

"Uh... well, it's a long story." Usopp said. "We'll tell you in full when you join our crew."

"What? What brought this on? I have no interest in joining some pirate crew."

"Come on! Why not? We'll go on adventures, and eventually, I'm going to find the One Piece and become King of the Pirates!" Lu said proudly. "And you, as the best chef in the world, will be our cook!"

"Pfft, you?"

"Hey! I am going to!" Lu defended. "I already have a boat and everything!"

"Yeah right. Besides, if the entire goal is the One Piece, I don't really care. I have my own dream."

Zoro nodded, jumping down to stand next to him. "Yeah? My dream is to be recognized as the greatest swordsman in the world, by defeating Dracule Mihawk."

"Hah! That might be even more impossible. I've seen Mihawk! He comes to our restaurant, sometimes." Sanji said, poking at him.

Zoro gave an evil smile, "I've heard."

"You're all crazy."

Usopp and Lu came down as well, so they would all be standing at the same level. "Well, what's your dream then?" Lu asked.

"Promise not to laugh?"

"You laughed at ours!" Lu said grumpily. "We're allowed."

"I won't laugh." Usopp promised. "You didn't laugh at my dream."

"What's your dream Usopp?"

"I... mine is secret!" Usopp said hurriedly. "A deep secret! I'll tell you when the time comes!"

"Ooh, cool!"

"You don't have to pick something right now." Zoro said lazily, gesturing at the sea, "I mean, it'll be a long time before we reach the One Piece. I'm sure something you want to do will come up."

"Yeah."

"Anyway, my dream is to find the All Blue."

"All Blue?" Usopp asked, Zoro and Lu shared a look, neither familiar with the term.

"It's a Chef's Utopia!" Sanji said, throwing his arms wide out over the sea. "It's a place where all four seas meet, and so fish from all over the world come together in one place. Dishes that were considered impossible, utilizing the unique flavors of the Four Blues, and the Grand Line, would be possible! My dream is to go there, tell the world, and build a Restaurant there!"

"Wow, that sounds beautiful!" Lu said, "It's a great dream."

"Is it a real place?" Usopp asked.

"Of course it's real!" Sanji shouted back. "I'll kick the ass of anyone who doubts my dream!"

"Okay. But how are you going to get there?" Zoro asked, looking out over the sea. "I mean, if no one else has found it, it'd have to be pretty well hidden. Far away, in dangerous waters, probably."

"I... I suppose so."

"And how are you going to do that while staying here?"

"I won't stay at the Baratie... forever." Sanji said, a little uncomfortable. "I'll set out on my own, someday."

"Not on a ship with others?"

"Well, I wouldn't try to head out into the Grand Line on my own. I'd probably join some... other... people." he narrowed his eyes at them, and the three simply grinned in a not-at-all innocent way, "You three are craftier than you act. Why would I join your shitty crew, huh? Why you over anybody else! I'll find a ship full of beautiful ladies to take to the All Blue!"

"What are the chances of that?" Usopp asked. "I mean, besides the Amazon Lilly ships, what are the chances of the boat being nothing than women?"

Sanji blushed deeply, "Amazon Lilly! I'm sure that paradise lies in the heart of All Blue! I'll be sure to visit there as well!"

Lu frowned, "I've heard of Amazon Lilly before..."

"Of course you have!" Sanji said, grabbing him, "It's a dreamland for men like us! The homeland of Empress Boa Hancock, the most beautiful woman in the world, where women live in bliss, not bothered by the cruelties of man's world!" Sanji's eyes were hearts, and he was spinning around on one foot, and Zoro began to find himself sneering.

"Boa Hancock?" Lu asked surprised, "Oh! Her name is in my brother's book."

"Your brother's book, eh? Does it have pictures?"

"No, just cards that tell him where his friends are! I guess he knows her."

Sanji seemed to shatter, the heart-eyes disappearing, replaced with confusion. "That... disaster of human manners... knows the most beautiful woman on the planet?"

"I guess."

Zoro shook his head, ashamed.

"Wow!" Usopp said, "I didn't know that! Good on Luffy. I bet he knows where the island is, too!"

"I bet he knows where All Blue is too then!" Lu said excitedly, smiling at Sanji, "my brother knows everything!"

"You guys are lying." Sanji said, "You're just leading me on to trick me into getting on your boat."

"No, no, look, we'll get him, and he'll tell you all about it!" Usopp said, "though, from personal experience, the explanation is absolutely nonsense. But he is unbelievably powerful, and he does know all about the Grand Line."

"Huh."

* * *

"You're... from the future?"

"Yep!"

"And you came back in time, because we all died, but before we died, we somehow managed doing just about the impossible?"

"Yeah!"

Sanji looked over to Usopp, who shrugged, before looking back at Luffy. "Bullshit."

"aggggghhh" Luffy basically melted in his chair, giving up at any pretense of manners. "Why does everyone have so much trouble believing that!"

"Because it's impossible!"

"It's a Devil Fruit!"

"Not just that part, it's this whole... becoming monsters thing!"

"We didn't become monsters. Well... kind of. Me, you, and Zoro were kind of called the monster trio by the others." Luffy smiled over at Usopp. "And you Chopper and Nami were called the coward trio!"

"Agh!" Usopp said, insulted.

"And you said you knew me, that I was your chef? I can't cook fast enough to fill your gullet! With the rate you swallowed down my cooking earlier, I'm shocked we don't starve to death!" Sanji shouted.

"There were a few close calls." Luffy said solemnly. "You convinced Nami to pay for a super-secure refrigerator with a lock."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANT TO HEAR."

"Look, Sanji, I won't force you." Luffy began.

"You won't?" Lu asked.

"No. If Sanji doesn't want to leave for All Blue, that's up to him."

Sanji narrowed his eyes, and then jumped forward to kick at Luffy. "Until I'm sure you're not lying, you don't get to speak about my dreams and mock them!" the kick passed through air as Luffy simply moved around the blow. Sanji let out a huff of annoyance, before releasing another flurry of kicks. Luffy was like a leaf, making tiny movements that put him just out of the way of the feet, not bothering to put effort into the dodging.

"I won't mock you." Luffy said. "And I won't lie, we didn't reach All Blue. None of us achieved our dreams, the first time. But we were so close, Sanji!"

"Why would I trust you, then? If you failed your friends? If you got me and some lovely ladies killed?!"

Zoro frowned, pulling at his sword to defend Luffy's honor against the insult, when Lu placed his hand over Zoro's, shaking his head no.

Luffy snarled, and a tiny wave of haki permeated out of him. Sanji found himself on the ground, shivering. Usopp was feeling chills as well, but Luffy stopped the wave from stretching too far out of the room. "...You're right." Luffy growled, tears beginning to form. "Okay? You're right, I failed you all! But I'm making a second attempt, okay? And it's not just on me! You died on me, you jerks!" Luffy growled out. Everyone flinched. "You promised me we would reach the end, and that we would achieve our dreams, and instead you all died! You gave up on All Blue, and Zoro gave up on Mihawk, and Robin on the True History, and Nami gave up on her map!"

Lu stared in shock, and the others were a mixture of fear and confusion.

"...And I gave up on One Piece. Until I found that old man, and he let me come back here! You were my precious Nakama, and if you weren't with me when I became King of the Pirates, I didn't want to do it! But I'm here again. And I'm trying again. And I'll die before I fail this time. Before I fail any of you." He took a deep breath, "and none of you are going to fail on me! No heroic sacrifices this time, none of you!" He glared back at Zoro, "Especially not you!" he whipped back to Sanji, "Or you, got it?!"

"I... I uh..." Sanji was at a loss for words, not really sure what to make of the sudden outburst.

Luffy sat down, and focused on his breathing, the room was silent, before Lu got up and walked behind Luffy, before pulling him up into a hug. "You didn't have me before, either, you know? And I'm not going to let my nakama die either!"

"...Yeah, you're right." Luffy said. Managing a smile. "I'm... I'm sorry, all of you. If the Captain can't keep his cool, what am I supposed to expect out of you?"

"That's... that's the spirit." Zoro said. "I gave myself up for you?"

"More than once, you suicidal jerk." Luffy said with a grin. "But you don't have any right to do that now, got it? I'm way tougher this time, I won't need you to keep saving me."

"That doesn't sound like me." Zoro said with a scoff, "Why would I sacrifice my dream just to save your sorry ass?"

"Exactly! So don't!" Luffy said. He turned back to Sanji and held out his hand. "I'm not lying Sanji. And while I never saw All Blue myself, I know it exists."

"How?"

Luffy smiled, "Sanji, if you had to guess, where would All Blue be?"

Sanji frowned, leaning against the wall. "Well, it'd be somewhere in the Grand Line, probably. The Old Man thought that it was around Reverse Mountain. But that's the most well-documented and observed part of the Grand Line, so there's no way-"

"We only know what the East side of Reverse Mountain looks like."

"What are you saying?" Sanji asked. "You think the end of the Grand Line is All Blue?"

"It would make sense, wouldn't it?" Luffy asked, looking excited, "It's one of the few places in the world where all four Blues' meet!"

"...So, you're saying... All Blue would be at the end of the Grand Line, all the way at the end?!"

"Yeah!"

"I could never open a restaurant there! No one would be able to come!"

Everyone stared at him in surprise.

"It's the most dangerous stretch of sea in the world, how many customers do you think would be able to even arrive?!"

"I... never really thought about it." Luffy said.

"Shit." Sanji sighed.

"Maybe Nami could help you find a safe route there and back?" Lu offered. "If we recruit her."

Sanji sighed, pushing past Luffy. "Ah well, finding All Blue is the hard part, after all. I'll have to figure it out when we get there."

"So you'll come?" Luffy asked hopefully.

"...No."

"Oh come on!" Lu shouted.

"Look, you haven't actually given me real evidence of anything... but I'm inclined to believe you."

"So why not?" Luffy asked.

"Because I won't give up on the Old Man." Sanji said simply. "I owe him a debt. I'd give my life for my dream, but I owe Chef Zeff my life."

"Zeff gave his blessing." Luffy said, "if you needed it."

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to help him any way I can." Sanji growled, "You have no idea how much he means to me-"

Luffy gave a sad smile. "I know about the Vinsmokes."

Sanji froze in place, eyes widening as he looked at Luffy in horror. "You..."

"The Vinsmokes?" Usopp asked in surprise. "From the comic?"

"No." Sanji growled as Usopp. "Not from the comic."

"Um." The sniper backed off.

Luffy frowned, and then pointed out of the room, "Sorry guys, if you could leave the room? I'll talk to Sanji alone for a bit."

"Got it." Zoro said, picking up Usopp and carrying him out over his shoulder.

"I can walk you know!"

"Me too?" Lu asked.

"Yeah, just for a bit."

"Fine." Lu said with a sigh, "But after this, I want to be treated like the captain, got it?"

"Got it Captain." Luffy said with a salute.

Lu nodded, and then closed the door behind him.

"Vinsmokes. Talk." Sanji ordered.

"I know you were born into their family."

"I have nothing to do with-"

"And I know that Zeff is your real dad. Just like Dadan is my real Mom, and Ace and Sabo and little Lu are my real brothers, even if little Lu is the only one with the same blood. It doesn't matter."

Sanji looked down, angry. "How do you know about it?"

"The future, remember?"

"I don't want to deal with them ever again." Sanji said. "Why do we meet up with them in the future?"

"One of the Yonkou, the Four Pirate Emperors, Big Mom, wanted to make an alliance with the Germa." Luffy explained. "She wanted a political marriage to seal the deal. The Germa decided that you were right for the job, so they kidnapped you."

"Shit." Sanji growled, "SHIT."

"It won't be for a few years." Luffy said, before clapping him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, we got you out of it, and we kicked all their asses!"

"I don't believe that."

"Pfft, you think the King of the Pirates and his crew can't beat the Germa 66? Hah!"

"Look, this doesn't give me any reason to join your crew, you knowing who my father and siblings are doesn't affect anything."

"No, no, I just, I know what Zeff means to you. But do you know what you mean to Zeff?"

"He thinks I'm a nuisance. Before I go anywhere else, I need to prove to him-"

"He knows you're a great cook. He knows you're his son."

"..."

"Just ask him."

"I can't do that."

"Then don't. He's been telling you to leave because he knows you'll be happier out there. You can't achieve your dream while staying on the Baratie." Luffy said, before walking over to the door.

"I guess not."


	8. Farewell Baratie, Hello Don!

"So you'll be joining us Sanji?" Lu asked excitedly once they opened the door.

"...Yeah, I think so. I want to talk to the old man about All Blue first. I can't just leave him high and dry."

Zoro grinned, extending his right hand to the man, "Well, in either case, thanks for listening to our captain's crazy story, and welcome aboard."

Sanji stared at the hand for a moment before clasping it with his own, "Eh, it's less the crazy story, and more my own ambitions. You guys are in desperate need of a cook, and I need a boat. So why not?"

Zoro smiled wider, "I can respect that."

Sanji turned to Usopp, "So, Luffy says you're in charge of keeping track of food supplies."

"Well, it's nothing so formal as that." Usopp sighed, glaring at the three of them, "all of these guys have monstrous appetites-"

"I saw." Sanji said, suppressing a shudder.

"-so I've mainly just been trying to ration things out."

Sanji nodded. "I'll talk to Zeff and we'll see what I can rustle up for you. Good job. Leave it up to me from now on."

Usopp smiled, slapping him on the back, "How reliable! Good catch, Luffy!"

"He definitely is!"

* * *

"So, you're finally leaving us, shitty cook?" Patty said, smirking.

"I bet you're glad."

"Yep! Super glad!" the cook boasted.

"With me gone, the quality of the food will drop so much that you'll finally fit in here at the Baratie."

"What did you say?!" Patty shouted, jumping to his feet to hit Sanji, "Just leave already!"

"Yeah!" Cried a number of the other chefs, "You've menaced us for years!"

"And what the hell are you guys going to do about it?" He said, lighting his cigarette and putting it up to his mouth.

"What I'm going to do," Patty rumbled, pulling out the oversized cooking implements they usually wielded against invaders, "Is throw you off this ship myself!" Sanji sighed, before dropping, putting one hand to the ground for stability before spinning around, catching the other chef in the face with his boot and launching him out of the kitchen and into the main dining hall.

"Like you could!"

Carne pulled out a truly massive butcher's knife, dashing out of the kitchen with a roar to join the fight, "Prepare yourself Sanji-" he began, before the sous-chef kicked him in the nose, sending him tumbling down on top of the prone Patty.

"Tch, you crap-for-brains are going to run this place into the mud." Sanji derided. "Besides! I'm not leaving right this instant!"

"You aren't?" Both cooks asked, surprised, before pushing themselves up.

"What, was this your attempt at a last farewell? Getting the jump on me one last time?"

Carne glanced nervously at the other cooks, who had been subtly edging around the sides of the room, heading for the dock. "Maybe?"

Sanji looked around the room, laughing, "What, were the rest of you going to gather outside and gang up on me?"

"They were going to see you off." Zeff announced, walking down into the hall. "But I suppose it was a bit hasty. You aren't itching to leave this old man and his little shop behind?"

"Course I am, you geezer." Sanji blustered, "I just have to take care of a few things first."

"Take all the time you need Sanji." Zeff said, tapping him on the shoulder. "You heard him! Get back to work, you dogs!"

"Aye, Head Chef Zeff!" The cooks saluted, before hurrying, embarrassed back to their work station.

Lu watched with interest, a wide grin splitting his face. "So they really do like you, huh?"

"Eh, they're a bunch of idiots. But they're family." Sanji said warmly, watching as the kitchen roared back to life, the dining room filled with laughter and chatter about their little display. The Baratie was a dinner with a show- if no pirates attacked the fighting cooks would turn on themselves in no time. It was all familiar to him. Lu clapped him on the back, before rushing after the other members of the crew as they returned back to their ship. Sanji followed, prepared to get the grand tour by the excitable bunch.

The first thing that Sanji did was carefully inspect the kitchen of the Going Merry. He found it "Satisfactory", and remembering Luffy's warning about nearly starving, immediately headed back to the Baratie to barter for better equipment and enough locks to protect every cabinet and refrigerator door in the setup.

With Sanji's touch, the area became ship-shape. To celebrate his first time aboard, the crew pressured him to cook them something right then and there with the new kitchen.

The celebration ended up stretching longer and longer, especially once the alcohol came out. Soon enough, the deck of the Going Merry was filled with music and dancing, the guests of the Baratie heading down to dance on a pirate ship for kicks, while the other cooks at the Baratie decided to help out and make a full-blown barbecue.

Luffy laughed through the night, thoroughly enjoying Sanji's first night as a Straw Hat.

* * *

Lt. Fullbody's arrival was the signal he had been waiting for. Truthfully, he was feeling painfully antsy waiting for events to catch up to him. The Baratie was an utter joy, but he had the whole world out there to explore, and still no Nami on the ship.

He tried to remember what she was doing, at this point in her life. He wondered if she was on the Conomi islands, or out stealing from someone, or getting beaten by Arlong at this second. The only thing holding him back was his promise to let Zoro face Mihawk, as well as the simple fact that every time he looked at his Vivre Card journal, Nami's card was a healthy pure white, in the exact shape it should be. She was perfectly healthy, where ever she was.

Things were straying more and more from his first attempt. For one thing, Johnny and Yosaku bid them adieu after the second day of partying, tagging along with a ship belonging to a client who knew them well. They wouldn't be there at Fishman Island, but then again, Usopp wasn't with them at the Baratie when it came time to meet Don Krieg.

It played out more-or-less how he remembered it. The Marine Ship came to the restaurant, noticed the skull and crossbones on their flag, and fired at them once before the Lieutenant's ladyfriend distracted him from his job.

Luffy simply jumped up and caught the canonball, before dropping it off the side of the ship to let it explode harmlessly in the sea.

Now all he had to do was wait.

Sanji had gone back to his position at the Baratie until Luffy decided it was time to go, and so was in the correct position to both kick the misguided Marine's ass over soup, and to see Gin in his starving state before the pirate was thrown out by Patty. Lu and Luffy watched together from the balcony as Sanji brought a meal to the injured Gin hiding outside.

"You're hungry aren't you? Go ahead and eat it." Sanji commanded, setting the plate down in front of him.

"...I... refuse to take charity." but the pirate's stomach betrayed him, gurgling louder than his words.

"Just eat it already. To me, anyone who comes here hungry is a customer."

"I don't have... any money..."

Sanji sighed and sat down, before noticing the twin captains looking down at him. "It doesn't matter. Just eat it. I can't stand to see someone starving. The sea can be vast and terrible and barren, if you don't know where to look. It's awful, to be without food and water. I understand starving." he gestured at the food, "If you want to die with dignity, or whatever, go ahead. But if you eat, you can see what tomorrow's like, right?"

Gin broke into tears, before forcing the contents of the plate and the glass down his throat so fast he almost choked, chewing like it was the best thing he tasted in his life. "This is delicious" he muttered, through his full mouth. "Too delicious. I thought... I thought I was going to die today." he said, almost sobbing, so touched at the generosity. "Delicious... the best thing I've eaten in my life."

"You're the second person to tell me that in the last few days, you know." Sanji said, a proud smile on his face as he watched someone thoroughly enjoy his cooking.

"Well that's cause' it's true!" Luffy said cheefully.

"Yeah! We wouldn't choose you for the Pirate King's ship if you weren't the best!" Lu added, smiling down at Gin.

Gin looked up at them only for a second, before focusing back on his food, until the plate was licked clean. "...Thank you, how, how can I ever repay you?" Gin asked earnestly.

"Well, the meal itself isn't part of any combo, and in fact is only the main dish served without condiments or appetizers, my bad, I'll discount you the normal fifteen hundred Beli cost."

"I... I don't know what to say."

"Hey, Captains!" Sanji shouted upwards. "I just had a thought."

"Shishishi~" Luffy smiled, jumping down and putting an arm around Gin. "Hey Sanji, tell Zeff that we're finally leaving, and that we want to bring enough Baratie-pre-made meals for a hundred men."

"A... hundred?" Sanji asked, surprised, "Fine! But you better not eat them all at once, you glutton. I was just going to ask if we could take the guy with us, drop him off at another island. I'm not leaving a fellow pirate with the marines if they're going to starve him."

"I had the same thought." Luffy said with a grin, "Just go tell Zeff my last order, okay, Sea Cook?"

"Hmph, fine." he stretched, taking a long drag of the cigarette before tossing it over the side and heading back into the kitchen.

Lu hopped down as well, looking at Luffy and Gin. "Do we want to recruit this guy too?" Lu asked, looking him up and down. "He seems kinda weak."

"That's just cause he's really hungry, and only ate one meal!" Luffy said cheerfully, "Come on to our ship, we're pirates too."

"I'll have to refuse." Gin said, pushing away from Luffy. "...that chef, he works for you?"

"Yeah, that's Sanji. Don't worry, he gave you the food out of his own good will, not because he was trying to recruit you for me. But! I am going to try and recruit you with his food anyway!"

"I'm loyal to another pirate. I won't betray him for as long as I live." Gin said, staring him down.

"Don Krieg, right?" Luffy said, he has a really big ship, and a lot of men, right? And all of them are pretty hungry."

Gin's eyes widened, "Those... hundred meals then..."

"Are for you guys, if you want them."

"What's the catch?" Gin growled, "why go our of your way to feed us?"

Luffy smiled evilly toward his younger brother, who looked curious. "You're being hunted by Mihawk, right? You're bait!"

"Wh-No! We lost him in the calm belt!"

"Pfft, he doesn't care about that. Do you think a Neptunian could threaten a Warlord of the Sea?"

"Of course it could! Neptunians are unbeatable monsters!"

"They are unbeatable when it comes to taste," Luffy said, looking to Lu.

"Really?"

"Yeah! There were days with my old crew when we would run out of food, so we'd have to kill a Neptunian and drag it with us for days! Shishishi~ eventually though, Nami would complain it stinks so much we would let it go. But usually the bodies lure in enough regular fish we're still good for food after we let it sink."

"So cool! I want to try Neptunian."

"Your brother is obviously lying." Gin said warily.

"Nope! I really suck at lying!" Luffy said proudly. "So trust me when I say, Mihawk is still following you guys like a, a really big bird, with good vision! Like a falcon."

"His name is Hawkeye Mihawk!" Gin growled, smacking Luffy. "Look, fine, whatever your reason, I doubt my captain will refuse your food."

"So you'll take us to him?"

"If you promise to give him the food, and that this isn't some attempt at capturing his bounty."

"We're pirates, not bounty hunters!" Lu complained, "Though, if he has a big bounty and we beat him, that could be great for our reputation."

Luffy nodded, "That's true. But I think we'll wait and see how your captain treats us before we decide. After all, Mihawk will come following him either way, right?"

"Probably." Lu said. "You're the one who remembers."

"Ah, yeah."

Gin sweatdropped, looking between the two brothers. No wonder Sanji fed him out of the goodness of his heart, despite threatening the restaurant.

He had a weak spot for crazy pirates.

* * *

The entire staff of the Baratie gathered on its fins, as the small group of young men made their procession across to their ship. Sanji kept a stiff face, walking past most of them without a single glance in their direction.

"Prepare yourself Sanji!"

"Take this Sanji!"

It was only when Carne and Patty jumped him together that his expression broke, kicking both of them back towards the restaurant. "Darn it..." Carne muttered, "Our last chance to defeat him, and he doesn't get a scratch!"

"G-Good riddance, Sanji!" Patty screamed from where he laid on the ground.

"Yeah! I hope where ever you go to, it's so much fun that you never come back!" Carne added, flipping back up to face him, tears beginning to form in both of their eyes.

"Carne, that's not an insult." Sanji said, grinning.

"Shut up! Just go already!"

"Yeah." Sanji replied, turning his back on the Baratie and the gathered fighting cooks.

"You're not going to say goodbye?" Lu asked, curious.

"No need." Sanji said quietly.

He made it to the gangplank before Zeff came out to lean on the balcony. "You don't go catching a cold now." The old man said just loud enough for everyone there to hear him.

That was what broke the man. Dropping to his knees, he turned to face the Baratie again, and tears began to stream from his face. "Head Chef Zeff!" Sanji shouted. "Thank you!" He pushed his forehead to the wood planks, crying. "For taking care of me all this time! Thank you! I owe you a hell of a lot! I'll never forget a thing you taught me!"

Zeff looked down with a warm smile as all his cooks began to start blubbering, if not outright sobbing. He even teared up himself.

"Damn it, you bastard! We'll miss you!" Patty shouted.

"Yeah! Come back anytime now, you hear?!" Carne shouted as well.

A chorus of "Good luck!" "I'm so sad!" "We'll miss you!" and "SANJI!" began to ring out from the gathered cooks.

"Idiots." Zeff said quietly, wiping his eyes with one arm, "Men should just leave quietly without saying a word."

Luffy grinned at the display, before shouting "Let's go!"

Sanji got up, jumping up the gangplank as the ship pulled away, waving toward his family. "Til we meet again! You bastards!" Sanji shouted, watching the Baratie suddenly get farther away as Merry's sails caught the breeze.

* * *

Gin smiled at his savior's farewell, before looking back to the sea. Zoro stood at the whipstaff, watching their newest shipmates with interest, "So, where we heading hawkbait?" he asked in a cocky tone.

"Hm. There's an island we used as a secret base for a few months to the South-East, fairly close by to the Calm Belt, actually. The Admiral said that he'd meet me there, if I escaped."

"He trust you then?" Zoro asked, watching the sea with interest, "He wouldn't, say, give you the wrong location so that you'd lead the the Marines astray?"

Gin frowned, looking insulted, "Don't worry, the Admiral knows I don't break. If I say he'll be somewhere, he'll be there."

"Got it." Zoro said, looking back out over the sea.

The trip was in itself only a few hours, Krieg's outpost was a rocky outcropping with some caves more-or-less hidden from a distance. Approaching the mouth of one of those caves, Gin marched out onto the deck, waving to the darkness. Soon enough weak cries of "Gin's back. Tell the admiral. Food!" began to filter down.

Lu whistled at the sight of the ship, a galleon three times as big as the Baratie, and more than a dozen times the size of the Going Merry. "That's the Dreadnought Sabre." Gin informed the crew, "the flagship of the Krieg Armada."

"Looks like a ghost ship." Usopp said quietly, more than a little bit terrified. "Lu, Luffy, are you guys sure we should be here? I've heard bad things about Don Krieg!"

Luffy smiled knowingly, and Lu simply grinned widely, "Yeah? Is he really strong?"

"Don Krieg is the greatest, most terrifying man I know." Gin said in admiration for his admiral. "We were the most powerful pirate crew in the East Blue."

"You speak highly of me Gin." Don Krieg said, shuffling across the deck to look over the railing at the group. "We've almost run out of food, over here. More died from their injuries... we're down to only a hundred men now."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Admiral." Gin said earnestly, "The Marines were starving me too. If it weren't for these guys, I'd be a goner."

Krieg sighed, before having a gangplank extended down to the smaller ship, standing on the Going Merry, he looked at each of them in turn. "Bunch of kids." He commented, noting especially the way Usopp hid behind Zoro from the man, "but if you brought food, you're our saviors nonetheless."

Luffy grinned, "Sanji! Bring up the big bag!"

"Wait- you're going to give all of it away?"

"Well it's already made, it would take too long for you to cook something up for all one hundred of these guys yourself." Luffy said, patting their chef on the back.

"Well, it's convenient I suppose." Sanji said, heading into the kitchen and dragging out the massive bag made for a hundred meals. Tossing it to Krieg, he smiled. "Knock yourselves out. That food was made by my mentor."

Krieg ripped it open immediately, reaching inside and stuffing the food into his face, before noisily swallowing. "Oh God, I needed that." He looked over the Straw Hat Crew, before landing his eyes back on Gin. "Gin, get it distributed through to the remaining crew. I want them in fighting condition."

"I'm not sure it'll do that, but they'll be able to feel alive again." Gin said, before saluting the admiral and grabbing the bag, running up the gangplank with it.

With Gin gone, Krieg looked down at the Strawhats and gave a wide sneer. "So, what's your story? Why help me? Or help Gin for that matter? Do you want to join my crew?"

Sanji shrugged, "I just heard there were hungry people who needed some genuine five-star cooking in their gizzards."

"I'm your biggest fan! Just want an autograph, and no trouble at all!" Usopp lied from behind Zoro.

"I heard your crew is being stalked by Mihawk, and I want to fight him." Zoro said with an evil grin.

"I heard you were strong, and Gin doesn't seem like a bad guy, so I wanted to meet you!" Lu said cheerfully.

"I want you to be bait." Luffy said. "And your treasure."

Don Krieg stared dumbfounded at them, his eyes shifting between each member, as his brain tried to process each of their reasons separately from each other. Normally, he separated people into two categories: Fearful prey and useful threats. He had no idea what to make of the five in front of him. "Are... are you stupid?" He asked them.

"Yeah, probably." Zoro said with a shrug.

Krieg stared at them some more, before giving up and slamming his fist into Luffy's face. "This'll teach you to poke fun at me! You're lucky I need all the men and boats I can get my hands on right now. Be grateful I'm letting you all live-" it was then that he noticed that Luffy's head stretched backwards with the impact, only to bounce back, slamming the pirate captain's head into the admiral's gut, "-AUGHH!"

"Ah, sorry. I'm a devil fruit User. My body is like rubber, I just bounce back whenever I'm struck."

"Is- Is that so." Don Krieg muttered, trying to play off the ricochet as being less painful than it was. He refrained from hitting him again, both because of the knowledge that it wouldn't work, and because technically Luffy hadn't meant to hit him.

"As for your offer to join your crew-" Luffy breathed in, "NO WAY IN HELL!" Luffy shouted, grabbing Don Krieg by the head, before throwing him across the space between the two ships, sending the admiral sprawling across the deck of his own galleon.

"Wh-How dare you!" Krieg roared, standing up. His crew mates backed away in fear of their angry captain as he equipped his armor and ran into the ship to grab his weapons. "I guess I'll just have to kill them! Idiots like those, common sense won't ever get into their skulls!"

Usopp gaped in horror at Luffy, as Lu began to laugh. Zoro merely smiled, drawing his blades. Sanji raised his eyebrows at the sheer distance of the throw, before mentally preparing himself for the fight.

"Alright crew!" Luffy said, turning to them all, "Looks like I went and started a fight! Now, I know how this thing turns out, and I could destroy this whole island! I'm sitting this one out." Luffy said proudly. "So I'm letting you guys have all the fun! Go wild! There's only really three guys who are much of a threat, and that'd be Krieg, this really big guy with some shields that can light on fire, and Gin! Krieg is really tricky with his gadgets, oh! And he uses poison, so everyone, first thing you should do is steal gas mask things from his minions! All of them carry one."

"Yosh!" Lu said, "I call the shield guy!"

"Huh?!" the rest of them, including Luffy, shouted surprised.

"Usopp, you're tricky, and Zoro you're strong, so you should fight Krieg!" Lu said, "Sanji, try to kick some sense into Gin! I'll fight the shield guy!"

"Ehhh?! You don't wanna fight Krieg yourself?" Luffy asked, almost shocked.

"Why? You said he was tricky, I'm not good with people I think are tricky, and so if you think he's tricky, he won't be fun for me to fight!"

"I... I guess?" Luffy said, looking at his younger duplicate with surprise.

"Yosh. As Co-Captain, I order you all! Win!" Lu shouted.


	9. Explosive Triple Battle!

Zoro threw Usopp over his shoulders, grinning like a madman. "Come on, you heard him. Captain's orders."

"I just got a very serious case of 'cannot-fight-a-crazed-murderer' disease just now! I think it'd be best if you just left me back on the ship, so I can sleep it off quick, you know? Feel free to continue the battle without meeeEEEE!" Usopp's words became a scream as Zoro sprinted up the gangplank, drawing his three swords in the process.

"Come on Usopp! Show me what you can do!" Lu cheered from the gangplank, before running up himself as well.

Sanji began to laugh at the trio, looking towards Luffy, "You're really just going to sit out?" Sanji asked, "What kind of message does that teach your crew?"

"That I need them, and that they can do this without me." Luffy said, clapping Sanji on the back, before climbing up the crow's nest.

"Hmph. Shitty captains, one's lazing around and the other's ordering me to fight Gin? He's probably the one person on the enemy's crew who doesn't deserve it."

"You're the only person on our crew who'll fight him the right way." Luffy said, watching as Lu and Zoro began to wreak havoc on the newly-revitalized Krieg crew, tossing them off the galleon by the dozens. "Little Lu was right about that. You fought him the first time around too."

"Did I win?"

"Why don't you find out?" Luffy said mischievously, "You'd better hurry Sanji, soon there won't be any small fry to be your appetizers!"

"A small fry appetizer, eh?" Sanji said quietly, lighting a cigarette, before leaping in a few short hops all the way to the top of the gangplank. "Prawn, lightly marinated in lemon juice flavored with coriander, garlic, cumin, chili, and turmeric, fried in oil with some onions..." Sanji grinned, "None of these guys are high enough quality to even be counted as appetizers!" He dropped to the ground, spinning like a top on his finger tips, his legs going flying out and sending a wave of Krieg sailors into the air.

"ARRGH!" Krieg growled, suddenly appearing on the deck, followed by Pearl and Gin. "I don't know what you guy's problems are, but you messed with the wrong pirates! If you think you can take advantage of our weakness, you're wrong! We'll take your supplies, your boat, and your lives!" Don Krieg threatened, pulling out his spear. "Pearl, I want you to crush them and splash these fool's guts across the deck!"

"Aye Admiral!" Pearl said with a grin, clacking two of his shields together in preparation.

"Don, please, reconsider!" Gin begged, "Look, I don't give a damn about most of them, but their cook saved my life! He's my savior, he showed me mercy like I haven't seen in my life. And their Captains gave us all this food, do you think we'd have stood a chance if they took advantage of us when we were hungry?"

Don Krieg glared down at his lead henchmen. "Have you gone soft, 'Cold-Hearted-Demon' Gin? They attacked me flat out! They've rejected surrender. Death is all that awaits them. You know I don't give second chances." He said warningly. "All of you know that! So stop being so sloppy! Kill them all!" Don Krieg ordered to the whole of the crew. "And you, Gin, finish off the cook for yourself. If you beat him into submission, I'll ask him if he still stands with his idiot captains. If he rejects them, I'll let him be our cook. But if he says no... we'll see how well he cooks with MH5."

Pearl advanced on the four on the deck, Lu punched his two fists together, smiling at his opponent. "You guys just stand back! I'll have him down quick!"

"Y-Yes Captain!" Usopp said, cowering behind Zoro, who turned towards the other crew members.

"Sanji." Gin shouted from across the ship, "Come over here. If you reject these guys-"

"No way!" Sanji shouted back, sticking his thumb out facing down, "I've left the Baratie behind to join up with these guys. They're taking me on an express trip to the All Blue! How am I going to get there on your ratty and broken old galleon?" He slammed a foot down, creating a crater in the deck, shattering a number of floorboards. "Look, falling apart at the seams."

"Grr... fine! You pressed me into this, Sanji!" Gin shouted, drawing his twin tonfa and sprinting for the chef. Sanji spun back and deflected them both with his kicks, but the pirate enforcer pushed him back, until they were on the opposite end of the deck, towards the fore of the galleon. Sanji kicked away dozens of Krieg's men along the way, stopping only long enough to come away with the poor man's mask.

Lu shot his arm backwards, before slinging it back at high speed towards Pearl. The man moved quick, deflecting the rubber fist away with a well-placed shield elbow jab. Before Lu could think to counterattack, Pearl dashed forwards, "Pearl Present!" he shouted, punching Lu in the head. He went backwards slightly before he caught himself, sneering at Pearl.

"That stuff doesn't work on me, I'm a rubber man!" Jumping towards Pearl, he sent both arms and both legs coiling around Pearl's own limbs.

"Get off! Get off! Get off!" Pearl shouted, trying his hardest to pull Lu from him. As the two of them shambled off to the side in their wrestling, Zoro and Usopp faced Don Krieg directly.

"We'll be your opponent, Don Krieg." Zoro challenged, pointing one sword directly at him.

"Hmph." the admiral grunted, "A swordsman and... what? Their cabin boy?"

"I'm no cabin boy! I uh, I mean, yeah! Just the guy who cleans up! Don't mind me!" Usopp began, trying to sneak away before noticing the dozens of hungry-looking Krieg pirates in every direction waiting on the sidelines. "Urgh. Fine! I'm not the cabin boy, in truth, I'm the most dangerous member of the Straw Hat Pirates! I'm their powerful sniper!"

"A sniper, huh?" Krieg grinned cockily, before shifting his position to reveal his hidden weapons. Two double-barrel pistols in his hands, three guns appeared from the panels on either side of his torso, and from under each shoulder pad appeared two more guns "I bet I have more guns than you! DANGAN!"

"Shit!" Zoro cried, jumping backwards while bringing his swords into a guard position. "I'm not sure I'll be able to deflect all of those..."

"Then we make it harder for him to hit us." Usopp said, firing a glass bead filled with gas at the ground at their feet, "Smoke Star!" the two disappeared into the clouds, right before Don Krieg began to open fire.

* * *

"Absolutely Natural Pearl Present!" the massive man cried, smashing Lu hard enough to send him through the floorboards, but sure enough, an arm shot up from the hole and hooked itself around Pearl's shoulder, dragging him through the deck and into the hold below. The massive man found himself slightly dazed, lying on his back, before he was slowly lifted into the air. "Wh-No! I'm too heavy for a single man to possibly-" Lu tossed him straight upwards with all his strength, bouncing the pirate off the ceiling and sending him crashing back into the floor.

"Shishishi~ you're like a big turtle!"

"My name is Pearl!" Pearl shouted, "I'm like a big oyster, if anything!" he got up, swinging more punches at Lu, who either took them and bounced right back, or used his superior speed to simply avoid the blows. When Lu dove in quickly to deliver a sharp punch at Pearl's unprotected side, Lu found himself stopped as the huge pirate stomped his foot into Lu's own.

"That doesn't hurt!" Lu said, amused.

"This will! Pearl Cymbol!" He slammed both arms together at high speed right on top of Lu's head, the two shields in his hands clanging together like cymbols, with Lu's crushed head in between. Pearl grinned triumphantly, allowing Lu to drop, before staring in pure horror as Lu's head popped back into the right shape.

"Oof!"

"M-Monster!" Pearl accused, "Tarnished Silver Present!" He kicked off the ground, intending to bodyslam Lu. The younger pirate simply rolled out of the way, and then axe-kicked the man in the back as he landed, sending Pearl down another level. Laughing with amusement, Lu dropped down the hole to join him. "Urgh... you've done it now!" Pearl roared, looking around, "This is the gunpowder room! If you can't be harmed by my strikes, perhaps you'll be harmed by fire!"

"Uh oh." Lu said, looking at the barrels surrounding him, "Wait! If you blow them all up, you'll die too!"

"No way! My shield is fireproof!" Pearl bragged.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah! Here, I'll show you-" Lu dashed forwards, leaping off the ground as he went, before slamming his fist into Pearl's face. As the giant fell once more, Lu snagged onto one of the hand shields, pulling it from Pearl's fingers.

"Nifty!" he said, putting his own hand through it. "Hmmm..." he pondered his hand as he looked down at it, thinking hard.

Pearl pushed himself off the ground, reaching up to lightly feel his face, "Oh-Oh NO! Bl-Blood! I'm bleeding!"

"It's just a nosebleed." Lu said with a frown.

"Danger!" Pearl roared, "Dangerous! So dangerous!" He threw his arms out wide, before slapping them back together at high speed. He had not, before this point, realized that his left shield was missing. "GAH!" the man collapsed, clutching his injured fingers as he rolled around on the ground.

"Ouch." Lu said with some empathy, "Don't worry! I'm sure after you wake up you'll feel better!"

"W-Wake up?"

"Gomu Gomu No~" Lu grabbed the elbow of his left arm with his right hand, pulling on it, and then spinning it like a lasso. The shield clutched tightly in Lu's left hand became a blur as it was spun around and around at high speed, "~FLAIL!" With one final swing, the shield-wielding hand was sent flying forwards. Pearl pushed himself up and tried to block with his remaining shield hand, but the force of the flail blasted through the other shield, and then shattered the giant shield covering his chest. "Nice!" Lu said, retracting his arm, and the shield with it.

Pearl flew through the nearest barrels, before falling unconscious.

"I got something neat!" Lu said triumphantly, he turned in place, before glancing back at Pearl, "I almost forgot! Big me said I needed a gas mask!" Pilfering it, Lu laughed, heading back towards the upper deck.

* * *

Gin dodged a kick from Sanji, before thrusting at the cook with both tonfa, shattering the wood railing behind him. Sanji kicked off the remaining post, getting up into the air before landing with a low kick to try and knock Gin off his own feet.

The pirate enforcer managed to jump over Sanji's kick, swinging his arm backward and catching Sanji along the way, sending the cook flying. Sanji managed to catch himself before he could be ambushed by the other waiting Krieg subordinates, dashing back towards Gin and kicking the man in the chest "Poitrine!"

Gin stumbled from the attack, giving Sanji the chance to follow up with another flurry of kicks, the speed and force leaving a series of red-hot footprints in the pirate's shirt. He collided with the edge of the ship, and then used his tonfa to catch Sanji's next kick, trapping his foot between the two metal weapons and spinning the cook around, slamming him into the wood of the saber-toothed tiger figurehead.

"Sanji, listen, just give up!" Gin said, "your friends are all going to get killed, but with how strong you are, I'm sure the Don can overlook everything."

"Sorry, Gin, no deal."

"I don't understand! Why did you give us that food, if you were planning on fighting us anyway?"

"To be honest, I'm not even sure that the Captains were always planning on fighting. They're sure not averse to it, though. And the reason we gave you our food was because you were hungry." He said this while sparing a glance for Gin's other crew mates. "And that's the long and short of that!" He began to spin off the side of the figurehead, his legs a whirlwind as he collided back with Gin, knocking the man down "Quasi!" Gin lashed out with his tonfa before Sanji could attack again, the cook forced to take a step away so as to not take a direct hit with the heavy mass of metal.

"Fine. I guess you won't listen." Gin grunted, before shooting forward. Sanji didn't have time to react before the tonfa buried itself in his stomach. The cook went flying from the impact, breaking through a mast on his journey. Gin walked forwards, hooking one tonfa into his belt and reaching down to grab Sanji by the head. He reared back with his other tonfa, as tears began to well in his eyes. "Least I can do is put you out of your misery quickly."

"Shitty pirate, what are you doing, crying during a fight?" Sanji muttered, spitting out a little blood. "Collier!" He struck Gin in the collarbone, sending the pirate down. "Épaule! Côtelette! Selle! Poitrine! Gigot!" Sanji became a blur of attacks, landing hits all over Gin's body, the final strike kicking the pirate's knees and sending him sprawling across the floor. "Are you done?" Sanji asked, breathing heavily.

"I... your friends, they won't beat Don Krieg. He's a monster, an unbeatable monster of a man. That you're stronger than me won't change anything." Gin muttered, but Sanji could tell the fight left him.

"Well, we'll see. I haven't gotten to see them in action yet either, but for some reason I'm not too worried. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

Zoro coughed as he waved the smoke away from him, but he didn't have much time to react as he ran, Krieg's shots were getting more accurate as the man listened for their footsteps, and Usopp's smoke couldn't hide. Either way, it didn't suit Zoro to fight in this manner, with the opponent unable to prepare for his next strike.

But it definitely suited Usopp. Another bead flew out, cracking against the gauntlet of Krieg's armor and releasing a splash of sticky, viscous fluid all over it. Krieg was beyond enraged, and with every additional rotten egg and foul-smelling oil that splashed across his armor, it would only get worse. The admiral screamed with rage, before giving up at shooting into the smoke that was quickly filling his part of the deck. He then threw bombs, blasting holes across the smoke-filled area.

Upon seeing Zoro and Usopp in clear view, the man smiled, drawing one of his shoulder pads, he held it in front of him like a shield, activating a mechanism inside it, various gun nozzles appeared, "Spear Machine Gun!" he cried, before firing stakes at the sniper and swordsman. The two Straw Hats darted off in opposite directions, and Krieg chose to focus on Usopp, "Hahaha! You think you can outrun me?"

"Running's my specialty!" Usopp shot back, annoyed, before pushing back into the smoke cloud. Krieg fired into it, and was rewarded with the sounds of painful grunts and shouting, and the thunk of a spear finding flesh... in the bodies of several different men.

"Don!" one of the unfortunate minions cried.

"Errgh, get out of the way, you fools! I'm fighting! Where did the long-nose go?!"

"Don't focus on him, when I'm right here!" Zoro growled, moving close to the floor as he rushed for Don Krieg. Krieg didn't bother raising his shield, and simply blocked the threefold slash with one gauntlet-covered arm. Twisting the same arm around, a net was fired from the gauntlet, entangling with Zoro.

"That net is made from heavy iron! I doubt you'll be able to move from that spot." Krieg said smugly, and with a slight movement of his hand, a hidden nozzle appeared, "Tell me, have you ever wondered what being cremated might feel like?"

Zoro glared at the nozzlehead, before grunting and pushing himself to his feet, throwing the heavy net off of him in the same motion. Krieg didn't hesitate, and pulled the trigger, sending a wave of flame rushing forward at Zoro, "Gunpowder Star!" Usopp cried, and the gout of flame was diverted by the explosive force of the projectile. Zoro was knocked back, coughing, but unburnt.

"Brat- ergh, feh, eeugh!" Krieg began to hack and cough as his eyes began to water, the pellet filed with tabasco sauce splattered across the inside of his open mouth, "Eagghh!" His shield was in place just in time to deflect Zoro's strike, but it was a close call. His vision became blurry as the spiciness of the pellet made his eyes begin to water, "Ah'll kall yuu!" he threatened.

"You should have kept your mouth shut" Zoro said smugly, before he found himself knocked back once more by an explosive, this time dropped by Krieg.

The Don tossed another shiny black bomb at the dazed and prone Zoro soon after, only to scowl as it was detonated halfway to the swordsman by a simple lead pellet, Krieg glared at Usopp, torn between finishing off the swordsman and going for the sniper. Thinking up a plan, he roared "MH5!"

His crew went into chaos, rushing for their masks. He raised his shield towards Zoro, and smiled as Usopp's expression became terrified, the sniper started running forward, snagging two masks from the panicking members of Krieg's crew. He fit one across his own face as he rushed for Zoro, other mask ready to be put over his crew mate's face "No! Don't!"

"Fool." Krieg said, before turning the shield towards Usopp. He launched the canister, and instead of exploding into poison, dozens of shuriken came flying out, many embedding themselves in Usopp. The sniper collapsed, mask clattering out of his hand as he fell to the floor, red liquid spreading from underneath him, "Serves him right, and now... for you." he turned back to Zoro, advancing slowly, "I'll make you suffer a bit, first."

"Usopp..." Zoro groaned, looking up.

"I've already killed him, and now it's your turn, swordsman."

"Not if I kill you first." Zoro growled, trying to stand up, raising his swords defensively, "Santoryu!" he jerked forward, and began to slash at the pirate admiral.

Krieg hid behind his shield, and began to fire spears at Zoro. The swordsman batted most away easily, but quickly found himself needing to move again, bombs rolling from the Don's free hand and onto the floor, exploding all around them both. Krieg laughed, advancing on Zoro, when something hit him hard on the back of the head. He felt something wet and slimy drip from his hair and down his back, "What the hell..." he turned slowly, to see a ketcup-smeared and mostly unharmed Usopp standing triumphantly in front of the steering wheel for the ship, his slingshot was in hand, already loading his next projectile into the rubber band.

"Fear the dread pirate Usopp!" the sniper cried, slightly muffled by his gas mask. The next projectile went flying, and Krieg raised his shield in front of his face- waiting for an impact that didn't come. It had sailed past him, and hit Zoro on the chest. A gas mask.

"Why aren't you dead?!" Krieg growled, firing spears at Usopp, who quickly squeeked and ducked behind the steering wheel, letting the wood shield him. "Men! Kill him!" the terrified crew of the Don began to draw swords and crossbows, and as a large group they began moving towards Usopp. Deciding to leave it to them; the sniper wouldn't likely be good in close quarters, he focused on Zoro.

The spears weren't doing any good. He had already used his net, and the swordsman was learning to avoid the bombs. His Dangan only had so many shots- and it was such a pain in the ass to reload all of them. The swordsman was wearing a gas mask, so finishing the fight with some MH5 wasn't an option. "Fine!" Krieg growled, "You'll get the rare privilege of seeing my ultimate weapon! This-" he slapped both shoulder pads together, "Is my one-ton spear!"

"A spear? After all that, a spear is your last resort?" Zoro mocked, before the blade came at him. Grunting, he brought one of his blades against it, only to be bounced away by the explosion, "I'm tired of all these bombs!" he growled, sliding to a halt, coughing, "Darn it!" he rushed forward, but Krieg simply stabbed the floor again, wood erupted in the explosion, and Zoro was forced back once more.

"You'll see that I'm unbeatable with this weapon!" Krieg said triumphantly, "I've never lost a battle with it in hand!"

"Even against Mihawk?" Zoro said, sneering.

"Grrr..." Krieg marched forward, swinging his spear expertly. Zoro backed off at the same pace, trying to keep away from the potential blast zone.

"Boss!" one of the henchmen cried, rushing towards the battle.

"What?!"

"We can't find him!"

"What do you mean, you can't find him?! I told you to kill him, didn't I?!"

"He got away from us, he blew a hole in the deck and got into the lower levels-"

Krieg growled, swinging the spear towards his subordinate and sending him careening backwards into a group of his fellows, "Useless! All of you!" he roared, only to have another pellet go flying into his mouth, "Gaaaahhh!" he cried, reaching with his gauntlet covered hand to try and scrape the hot sauce from his tongue. Usopp, high up a mast, began to fire at Krieg at high-speed. Lead ball after miniature explosive bounced off the man's armor. "Damn rat!" Krieg hissed, turning towards the mast and charging, raising his spear in a mighty swing. He smashed his weapon against the side of the wooden pillar, and it was practically vaporized by the following explosion, and the man's own strength.

Usopp shrieked as his post began to collapse, but Zoro took advantage of Krieg's shift in focus, "Your shield might be harder than my swords-" Zoro growled, "But is the pole?!"

He brought his blades down on it, separating the heavy mechanism from the pole, and letting it drop to the ground. It went off, knocking back both Krieg and Zoro.

Both brutes groaned painfully as they lied prone on the ground, and the mast crashed to the deck between them.

Usopp tumbled from the riggings of the mast, rolling on the deck, moaning from his own injuries, he cracked one eye open when he heard Luffy cackling, "Hah! That was a close one, huh?" his captain shouted.

"What the hell, Luffy!" he cried towards the Merry Go, "I nearly just died right then!"

"You're doing fine, both of you!" Luffy said cheerfully, waving from the Merry's crow's nest.

"I'm going to give you a piece of my mind when this is all over!" the sniper grumbled, pulling his hammer free from his bag. He walked towards Don Krieg, and gulped nervously as the man cracked an eye open to glare at him, "Y-You..." Usopp began, "Deserve this! Usopp hammer!"

He brought the hammer down with his full strength, but Krieg had moved his hand into the path, his gauntlet catching the strike easily, with a pained groan, he sat up, glaring at Usopp, "I'll roast you..." he hissed, "Make you feel some of the heat you've been sticking down my throat!" he pointed his arm at Usopp, and his pained grimace turned into a sadistic smile, "Die."

Nothing happened.

Krieg's eye twitched as he jerked his arm once more, "Die! Burn! Melt!" he cried, clicking helplessly at the hidden switch in his glove for his flame throwers.

"Heheh," Usopp began, "Hahaha!" he pulled the mask free, giving a triumphant smile, "Just as planned!" he lied, "I knew my hammer strike wouldn't kill you! I predicted you'd block it, and now I've destroyed your flamethrower!" the smile disappeared as Krieg wrapped his fingers in Usopp's shirt, dragging the young man down to the wood floor, "Oops."

"You just knocked it out of place!" Krieg growled, trying the switch over and over, "I'm going to make you burn!"

"Nonono!" Usopp cried, before lashing out again with his hammer, hitting the gauntlet once more.

It exploded.

Usopp was sent sailing backwards, tumbling across the deck, Krieg was sent sprawling across and over the mast, falling almost onto Zoro, who was just getting up.

"Damn it!" Zoro yelled, "I'm tired of all these explosions!" kicking Krieg off of him, he put Wado Ichimonji back in his mouth, and pointed all three blades at Krieg.

"What are you going to do?! My armor is stronger than iron!"

"I don't know, it's taken a beating." Zoro said, grinning sadistically, "Let's see how well it protects you! ONI GIRI!"

The three blades were crossed, then brought forward in a devastating slash. Finally, Krieg's armor shattered, and thick red lines were drawn across his bare chest underneath.

Krieg fell, unconscious.

"~Shi shi shi!" Luffy laughed, before making an easy leap over, "Wasn't that fun, everyone?"

Having each finished their particular fights, Lu climbed up, and Sanji returned from the far side of the galleon, carrying Gin. "Hell no!" three cried.

"Yep!" Lu affirmed, "It was!"

"That guy was a nightmare!" Usopp complained.

"I'm never fighting someone who uses bombs again." Zoro grunted bitterly.

"I'm going to be waking up tomorrow with all kinds of bruises." Sanji complained.

"I got a weapon! It's so cool!" Lu said, showing off his shield.

Luffy's eyes lit up, "You're keeping it?"

"Why not? It's cool, isn't it?" Lu said, "I'm already busy thinking up moves with it!"

"Y-You beat the Don?!" one of Krieg's henchmen murmured, shocked.

Luffy turned towards him, "Why, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll... I'll!" the pirate, in some kind of burst of loyalty, raised his gun. Luffy closed his eyes, and with a pulse of Conqueror's Haki, the pirate slumped over.

"What the hell was that!?" Sanji hissed, looking to Luffy.

"Conqueror's Haki." Luffy answered, simply, "My will's stronger than theirs. Every Yonkou can do it."

"Holy shit." Sanji said, amazed.

Usopp nodded, just as shaken, but he regained his composure easily enough. He had helped beat Don Krieg! He defeated a pirate! Maybe the most wanted man in East Blue! "Hey, Zoro, speaking of weapons... did you see where that spearhead rolled off to?"

"Maybe, why?"

Usopp grinned, "Because I have some ideas." he said with a grin.


	10. Zoro's Ambition!

"How long do we need to stay here Gin?" one of the pirates muttered, glaring at the small group practically having a party on the other side of the galleon, "Everything's lost."

"You're free to get on a lifeboat and get lost." Gin said coldly, not moving from his Admiral's side.

"But- if the Don pulls through..." he froze, as Gin's glare brought shivers to his bones, "When! When, he pulls through... wont' he hunt down the deserters?"

"He won't have the time and energy to spare." Gin said, "He'll have to focus on healing, and then repairing his equipment... from there, he'll have to rebuild the fleet from scratch."

"It's hopeless, isn't it?"

"You're free to leave." was Gin's only answer. He wouldn't be leaving Krieg, not now, not ever.

On the other side of the galleon's great deck, Luffy and his crew were sitting, simply hanging out as they waited for Mihawk to finally appear, "We should get a hangout like this! Did we have any bases in the future, Big Luffy?" Lu asked.

"What, like this cave?" Usopp asked, "Why?"

"You know! Somewhere to keep treasure stashed away and hide from the Marines!"

"Ummm kind of?" Luffy said, "We had a few places where we kept treasure stashed, and we decided on Saobody Archipelago to be a place where we would meet up, and where we could leave the Sunny for a few years." Luffy said, "But otherwise? We mostly kept on the move. We didn't have a base we kept returning to between voyages, after all, we were on one big journey from beginning to end, not a bunch of separate ones."

"I'm more interested in hearing about our crew mates." Sanji said, "If you really are from the future."

"What? You're still doubting that?" Luffy asked, shocked.

"I'll have to admit, with everyone discussing it so casually it seems almost plausible, but I still haven't seen much in the way of proof. And you'll have to think of something besides the Vivre Cards."

"How would I know about you besides the being from the future!?" Luffy demanded.

"You know who my family is, so however you found that out could be the connection. You might have just wanted their kid on your crew. Usopp's father is a bigshot pirate, so you wanted to recruit him. Zoro is famous all on his own, and Lu's your brother."

"Agh! You can't really believe that!"

"No, not really." Sanji admitted, "But it still makes more sense than your story."

"Hmph. Well, if you really need proof, I can predict where and when lightning will strike."

"Oh?"

"The execution platform in Loguetown, in less than a week, will be struck by lightning, bringing it down."

"The platform where they killed Gold Roger?"

"The very same!" Luffy said with a grin, "Buggy had caught me, and was going to behead me there, when lightning struck all of us!"

"Who's Buggy?" Usopp and Sanji asked, almost simultaneously.

"Ah! That's right, we didn't fight him in this world." Luffy said, "So he won't try to execute me! But the lightning would still strike the same place, wouldn't it?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't." Usopp said, before fitting his hand into the gauntlet he had been working on. He lifted his arm, and frowned, "Ugh, nope. Still too heavy."

"You really going to steal it?"

"Why not? We're pirates, aren't we? And Lu got to steal an enemy's weapon. I should get my pick too." He had much of Krieg's armor laid out in front of him, as well as the two shield/shoulder pads/all purpose weapons that Krieg had been using so effectively, "And this stuff is really complicated. If Krieg wanted to give up on piracy, he'd make a great smith." Usopp sighed, pulling off the gauntlet and placing it with the other stuff, "The shame is that it's all so heavy! He integrated everything into everything, and one of his gauntlets was completely destroyed. I'm not sure how much of this I can actually salvage and make useful."

Luffy grinned, "We should keep it, anyway. When we get Franky again, he'll love this stuff! Though his stuff is obviously cooler!"

Usopp nodded, "Well... I'll keep at it, I'll bang something useful out of this, just you wait!"

Luffy smiled, "I can't wait."

"Neither can I." Zoro said, staring out of the cavern's opening, at the open sea.

"He'll be here soon enough." Luffy said, "He caught up to the galleon in a few days, before."

"..." the swordsman was quiet, before he sighed, "Yeah."

"Are you sure you should do this, Zoro?" Usopp asked, "I mean, you might die! Luffy says you get a lot stronger later- why not wait until then?"

"I can't run from him, knowing he's going to be here!" Zoro snapped, "I need to challenge him. I need to."

"Fine, fine. Sorry for worrying!" Usopp grumped, pulling more harshly at the mechanical innards of Krieg's armor's innards, "Oh crap!" Usopp hissed, before jumping up, kicking at the shield to get it away from him, "Everyone, the masks!" he cried, gas audibly hissing from the weapon.

"Shit!" Sanji growled, kicking Usopp and Lu away from the shield, using his hand to fumble for his gas mask. Zoro jumped away as soon as he heard Usopp's warning.

The three of them then watched in horror as Luffy simply stood there, looking over the shield. "Luffy! Get out of there!" Usopp yelled, "That's the poison you were talking about!"

"Straw Hat!" Gin shouted in alarm, setting Krieg down before reaching for his own gas mask, ready to throw it- but his hurrying steps slowed as he watched Luffy take a deep breath, sucking the entirety of the cloud into himself.

He then burped into the clear air.

"Shishishi~" Luffy laughed, looking out over the crew, "Don't worry, I'm immune to just about everything! Whatever this stuff is, it's weak enough a gas mask can protect against it."

"What the hell?" Zoro muttered, "Don't scare us like that!"

Sanji stared wide-eyed at the cracked bomb canister in the shield's innards. "What the hell was that, an anti-tampering boobytrap?"

"I... I didn't know." Gin said, staring at the armor.

"How the hell did you become immune to 'just about everything'?" Sanji asked, looking to Luffy, reminded slightly of his own sister.

Luffy grinned, "Have any of you heard of Magellan?"

Gin gulped, "The warden of Impel Down?"

"Yep! He ate the Venom-Venom fruit. When I broke in, he got me really bad with everything he had! I almost died. Would have, without Iva!"

"You... got out of Impel Down?! How are you not one of the most famous people in the world? You'd be up there with Shiki the Lion!"

Luffy shrugged, "Let's just say they decided to cover it up."

Gin's eyes widened, "So you're really a monster from the Grand Line, just like Mihawk, aren't you? Is this why you think you can take him?"

"I'm not the one who'll be taking Mihawk." Luffy said, looking to Zoro.

Zoro tensed, "...I don't care what happened in the future." Zoro said quietly, so that Gin wouldn't hear, "I'm going to fight to win, as soon as he appears."

Luffy nodded, serious, "Remember, you're not allowed to lose! If you get knocked down again, you better ask for forgiveness, got it?"

"Understood, Captain."

* * *

He had simply come to kill time, honestly.

The small fry weren't particularly useful. It wasn't like he was hurting for money at the moment, so their treasure was irrelevant to him. They hadn't given him much insult- that a few of the ignorant fools wielded swords, waving them around like panicking toddlers, was an insult to his pride as a swordsman, but he couldn't exactly go around killing every person in the world who didn't treat their weapon with respect. He'd have no time to do anything else if he did.

They were simply there.

And he had simply been bored.

He had tracked the debris and predicted their patterns of drifting based on the wind and the sea. It killed time, and put his brain cells to work.

When he found their base in the stone cavern, he piloted his one-man craft into the mouth without hesitation. His hawk eyes alit on a small ship- a gaudy, simple, caravel with a goat figurehead, and a pirate's mark he didn't recognize in the slightest. But then again, he couldn't be bothered to remember every worthless bit of trash that drifts out of the East Blue.

"H-Hawkeye!" one of Krieg's lookouts screamed, "He's back!"

"Finally!"

Dracule Mihawk raised a single sharp eyebrow at the declaration. Someone was happy he was here? He didn't indulge the suicidal too often- he didn't like to puff people's egos up by having them proudly declare in the afterlife 'At least I was killed by the best'. As a gun fired, he idly deflected the bullet into the wall of the cave, "Who said that?" he asked casually, his voice ringing through the silence.

"I did." a green-haired swordsman said, standing on the edge of the galleon, looking down at Mihawk, "You deflected the bullets, you changed their trajectory with just the slightest tap of the tip of your sword... I've never in my life seen more graceful movements."

"A sword without grace is a weak sword." Mihawk responded, lighting his glare on the swordsman, "Are you one of this small-fry's crew?" Mihawk asked, but he doubted it. None of these miscreants seemed the type to truly comprehend what was in front of them.

"Heck no!" another pirate said, "We just trashed this guy!" the pirate had black hair and- a familiar straw hat. Vaguely interesting.

A small group followed the green-haired swordsman from the galleon, leaping down onto the smaller caravel. So, a band of pirates decided to prey on his leftovers while they were weak, hm? Fair enough. He should have been faster, "What's your quarrel with me, swordsman?"

"You're the strongest swordsman in the sea... I set sail to meet you!"

Hawkeye didn't blink, "What's your goal?"

"To be the strongest!" the swordsman said with a grin, but he was sweating already, he tied a black bandanna over his hair, and the man's entire demeanor changed from someone mildly goofy looking- with three swords and the bulging striped sash and the bright hair, he would have fit in with the circus. Now though, at a glance he looked a warrior, "Since your previous targets have been thrashed already, would you take me as a replacement? I'd like to duel you."

He repressed the urge to sigh, "Pitiful weakling." Mihawk said, standing up, "I've already displayed how much better I am- if you're competent at swordplay, you'll already realize the difference between us. Yet you still challenge me. Is this bravery from conviction or stupidity?"

"It comes from ambition, and a promise to a friend." the swordsman said, "And that I know, someday, I can win. Will win. That day might be today." placing one of his three swords into his mouth, before drawing his other two blades, "I'll meet you on the top of the cave, where we'll have some room."

Mihawk sneered, "How presumptuous." but as the caravel made its way for the cave's entrance, Mihawk turned his own ship to follow, the galleon behind him, and the survivors of his earlier assault, the target of his weeks-long tracking through the calm belt and East Blue utterly fading from his mind. It was less interesting than this little no-name ship and its no-name circus swordsman.

* * *

Gin watched, feeling lost, as his savior and the people who defeated Krieg more utterly than a Warlord of the Sea left Krieg's base. Mihawk, who had been the boogeyman of the crew's collective nightmare, turned his gaze from them and followed the little goat-headed ship back out of the cave, and disappeared to the side.

"...Damn it." Gin muttered, "Sanji! Don't die on me! I hope you find your All Blue!" he cried. His crew-mates watched him nervously, staring confused at the tears and the sad smile on Gin's face, the smile faded, and he let out a long sigh, "Okay everyone." he said, "We'll begin rebuilding efforts now. We've been fed, and our wounds are more-or-less taken care of. The Don's asleep, but that doesn't mean any of you can start acting cocky or goof off!" he growled, and the mess of survivors found themselves forming ranks out of instinct, "That said- if any of you feel that the Krieg Pirates aren't right for you, and have no intention on staying with us as we rebuild the fleet... go off. I'll tell the Don that the Strawhats killed anyone who deserts now... But this is a one-time offer!"

The crew stood around, unsure, for several seconds, before breaking into groups and discussing quietly amongst themselves.

"...What are you going to do, Gin?"

"I'm going to rebuild the Krieg Armada, at the Don's right side." Gin said, "And I'm going to eat a lot of good food. Those are my only long-term goals in life."

"...I can't go back to my home. Everyone knows I left to be a pirate."

"I can't start over somewhere else."

"My family wouldn't accept me."

"I can't just leave, not after living through all of this!"

Gin smiled, finding his heart actually warming at the conviction of his crew. For the longest time they had been held together by fear, but the Strawhats attitude- and his own words, he supposed, let them choose for themselves whether they wanted to stay together.

"Then let's get to work. Maybe by the time the Don wakes up, the ship will be sailable again."

* * *

Zoro paced, breathing deeply. This... this was an important moment of his life.

Luffy had said he would live through it, that he lost, yet he lived through it.

He was beaten, and Mihawk didn't even bother finishing him off. Did that other Zoro, on that other crew, in that other fight, give up? Did he start the duel, realize how tall the mountain was, and say "I'll climb it later"?

He was slowly becoming terrified. What did the other Zoro do?

"Hey."

The hand on his shoulder was Lu's.

"You're going to do what you need to do." Lu said, with a seriousness that made him think of his brother- the competent, honorable, monster was still inside the younger one, he forgot that sometimes.

"...Yeah. I am." Zoro said.

"You're wondering how the fight went the other time, huh?" Lu said, looking at the coffin-shaped boat following them, the only sailor aboard watching them all with the eyes of a hawk.

"..."

"Don't."

"What do you mean? That version of me, he went through this battle, and came out the other side alive, and a failure." Zoro said quietly. "I'm not sure whether to hope for the same result, or to chew myself out for bearing the indignity of losing without complaint."

"Just stop thinking about it Zoro. Like Big Bro said, you're a different Zoro. Whatever happened before- something different will happen this time. It's in a different place, at a different time." Lu said cheerfully, "We have no idea what's going to happen! Except two things."

"Oh?"

"The first thing is, you're going to go out there, and I'll see the most badass sword fight of my life."

"Hah."

"The second thing is, you're going to chase your dream as hard as you can." Lu said, "Got it? Don't worry about how much the other Zoro did! Because you need to make the journey too!"

"...Thanks." Zoro said, "Captain."

Lu beamed, and Usopp and Sanji maneuvered the ship close to the rocks. They had found a more-or-less flat boulder a few dozen meters from the mouth of the cave, where Zoro and Mihawk could run and jump and move to their heart's delight without having to worry about destroying either of their ships in the process.

Zoro climbed off the Merry, leaping to the stone, drawing his swords and getting into position a second time.

Mihawk made a huge, effortless, jump from his coffin-boat and landed silently before Zoro, before standing up to his full height.

"To think." Zoro said, "That I'd get to meet you so early-on."

"A waste." Mihawk replied, reaching for his necklace. He tugged on the crucifix, and to Zoro's disgust, the man drew a knife. It was barely longer than a finger, the entire handle of the little blade was encompassed by Mihawk's hand.

"...You're going to duel me with that?"

"I'm not one of those fools who goes all-out just to hunt a mere rabbit." Mihawk said smugly, but Zoro could tell from his stance that Mihawk actually was treating it all seriously. The stance was that of a professional, his movements absolutely graceful. "You might be well-known here in the East Blue, but in the larger scale of things, this ocean is the weakest of them all. I'm just disappointed I don't have a smaller blade than this."

"...There's a limit to how much I'll let myself be underestimated!" Zoro growled, before darting forwards. The duel had begun.

Mihawk sighed, "You're a big fish in a small pond." he moved his knife slightly, "It's time you realize the scope of these oceans, and your place inside them."

"ONI~!" Zoro moved his swords into position for his signature strike, he wouldn't hold back an inch in this fight. He would fight to kill! "GIRI~!"

He found himself unable to move forwards, his swords shook with his effort, but Mihawk's knife was holding them back, the Strongest Swordman holding his blade tot he point where Zoro's three met. "No one's seen through that before." Zoro said, shocked. This- this couldn't be how the other Zoro's match went! This was ridiculous! No one could be so strong, able to see through his signature move and perfectly counter it without even a proper sword!

It was humiliating!

He threw himself into his next attack, slashing ravenously at his opponent, with every blocked strike, Zoro bit down and drew out more ferocity, more focus. He needed to win! He knew he could- but this was absolutely ridiculous! Zoro watched as his blade came swinging towards Mihawk's neck, only to have his blade be redirected with a simple tap of the knife.

He could have been like Krieg's men, believing Mihawk's technique was something supernatural. Because it was definitely beyond the normal. But Zoro was a swordsman, and he knew skill when he saw it. How could it be possible, for such skill to even exist?

 _I didn't train, for so long, so hard, to lose to a toy!_ Zoro roared in his own mind, _I trained to win!_ He slashed, another tap, another missed strike, _I trained to beat this man! I can't fail like this!_

"What's driving you?" Mihawk asked. Zoro clenched his teeth, backing off to gain some momentum, before throwing himself into his next signature move.

 _"_ TORA!" _he raised his swords over his shoulder, over Wado, over Kuina's sword. I will be-_ "GARI!" _-the world's greatest swordsman!_

He nearly dropped Wado Ichimonji as he felt the knife bury itself in his chest. Mihawk had seen an opening- and simply reached through, placing the blade in front of Zoro's chest and letting him drive himself into the knife.

He lowered his swords.

Mihawk stared up at him, from under his hat, "Why don't you step back? Do you want the knife to reach all the way to your heart?"

"No... not really. I'm not sure why but..." Zoro shook, shivers going down his spine, "I know that if I take even one step away from you, I'll never reach this point again. My promise, my ambition, my hope... if I take a step back, I'll be stepping on it, won't I?"

"Yes." Mihawk said, and his eyes seemed to focus deep into Zoro, looking for something deep inside the swordsman. Zoro wasn't sure what, "That's the fate of the defeated."

"Well... I can't step back."

"Even if you die?" Mihawk asked.

Did... did the other Zoro take a step back? Did he swallow enough of his pride to say 'someday, but not today'?

He wouldn't have held it against anyone else, giving up in the face of such a force, escaping with their life, so that they could grow stronger, strong enough to never run again.

But Zoro couldn't do that. "...Sorry, Lu." he muttered, mostly to himself, "I'd rather die, than give up right now."

Mihawk cocked his head slightly, a very predatory motion. His eyes changed, and to Zoro, it seemed like whatever he had been looking for, he had found. "What is your name?"

Zoro couldn't help it- a rush of pride surged through him, "My name." he raised his two swords before him, held at an angle. His silhouette was a three-pointed star. "Is Roronoa Zoro."

"I'll remember it." Mihawk promised, "You've shown real strength. That's rare. To show my respect for you as a swordsman, I'll give you the honor of being finished off by my Kokutou, the world's strongest sword."

He grit his teeth, and prepared himself. He hadn't used this move before, and if he missed, he would die. He would win, or he would die! He wouldn't accept anything else! "Three-Swords-Style Secret!" he growled, rotating his blades, Mihawk drew his massive blade, and had begun to charge towards him. The black blade shone proudly in the light, his own swords just as proud, "Three-Thousand Worlds!" he roared, diving forward, unleashing the move he had only practiced in secret, a move that he had made to finish off anyone in an instant!

He felt pain blossom across his chest, and heard the sound of two his swords shattering. Not Wado Ichimonji, thankfully, Kuina's legacy was made of sterner stuff.

He had lost.

He listened to the footsteps of Mihawk, and he sheathed his sword, turning around and holding his hands out to the side. "What's this?" Mihawk asked.

"I won't take a coward's wound." Zoro said simply.

"Splendid."

"ZORO!" came the cries of his crew, as the black sword swung down. Blood blossomed forward, and he found himself falling.

He closed his eyes.

He had lost.

He was smiling.

He hadn't run.

"Damn you!" Lu screamed, tears running from his eyes as he gripped the edge of the boat, launching himself at Mihawk, filled with rage.

"Lu!" Luffy called, but the younger refused to listen. Mihawk sidestepped Lu's flying tackle, and ducked beneath Lu's shield when he whipped his arm around towards the swordsman.

"Damn it! You killed Zoro!" Lu growled.

"Don't worry." Mihawk said, "He's still alive."

"Wha-" Luffy jumped from the ship as well, landing next to Zoro, smiling sadly.

"He's still breathing." Luffy said, "...I guess some things don't change. Zoro's still Zoro, and Mihawk is still Mihawk." Luffy said, before jumping to the Merry. "Sanji, get out the bandages and the alcohol!"

"G-Got it!" Sanji said, rushing to obey, and save Zoro's life.

"Zoro, wake up." Luffy said quietly, tapping him on the face.

"Luffy?" Zoro groaned.

"Roronoa Zoro. I am Dracule Mihawk! It is much too early for you to die! Learn about yourself, learn about the world, and become stronger." Mihawk commanded, and Zoro simply froze, listening, shocked to even still be alive, "Become strong, Roronoa. No matter how long you take, I'll stand here, at the pinnacle! Keep that ferocity, that focus, that fear and that pride! Fight me again, Roronoa, no matter how long it takes for you to become stronger. Surpass me!"

Lu stared up at Mihawk, eyes wide.

"And what about you, boy? What's your goal?"

"King of the Pirates."

Mihawk actually smiled, "That's even loftier goal than your friend. It'll be tougher than even beating me."

"Well I'll do it! We'll kick your ass!" Lu growled, "Zoro's going to beat you, and we'll be a crew with the King of the Pirates, and the Strongest Swordsman!"

"C-Captain!" Zoro groaned, raising his sword.

"I'm here." Luffy said, before looking to Lu, "And Lu can hear you."

"I promise- I won't embarrass you. Either of you! The Pirate King can't just make do with the second best! I promise... to never lose again! Until the day I fight him again, I will never lose to anyone!"

Mihawk smiled, "Hm, and who's this, your older brother?"

"Yeah." Lu said.

"And what about him?"

Lu grinned, "He's going to try and beat me there."

"Oh?"

"When we finally reach the One Piece, the two of us are going to duke it out. The winner is the real King of the Pirates."

Mihawk turned towards Luffy, "There's a lot of people with ambition, then?"

Luffy simply stared back at him, before breaking into a wide grin, "Usopp, Sanji, brace for it."

"What are you-" Usopp began, before the wave of Haki cascaded over them all. Mihawk took a step back, shocked to feel this kind of strength coming from someone from the East Blue.

Zoro collapsed, already weakened from his battle, Luffy set the swordsman down, and noted that Sanji and Usopp were both ready with medical supplied. He started walking calmly towards Mihawk, "You know, I don't want to steal Zoro's show, but I've been kind of wanting to fight you too."

"You know Haki?"

"Yep."

"Who was your teacher?"

"I won't tell." Luffy said, sticking out his tongue. Mihawk bristled, before raising his sword.

"Tell me, what does someone like you need in the East Blue?"

Luffy smiled, looking back at his crew, "Well, I found the man who's going to be the strongest swordsman, the best chef in the world, and an infallible sniper already. The East Blue isn't the weakest sea, Mihawk. It's the sea with the most hidden potential."

"...I'll fight you if you wish, but I can tell you aren't a swordsman."

"...Nah." Luffy said, finally, "It'd spoil the happy mood. Want to stick around until he wakes up? We have drinks, and as I said- the best chef in the world?"

"I'll have to decline." Mihawk said, "If I stick around any longer, I'll start feeling compelled to train him... what are your names?"

"I'm Monkey D. Lu." Lu said, and Luffy smiled wider.

"You're owning it, huh?" Luffy asked.

"Shishishi~!" Lu laughed, "I might as well."

"And I'm Monkey D. Luffy. We're brothers. I'm the eldest." Luffy's face lit up, "Lu! I'm older than Ace and Sabo!"

"What! Oh right, you are! That's awesome!"

"I'm the oldest brother." Luffy said proudly, "Remember the Monkey Brothers."

"I'll be sure to." Mihawk said, before hopping back onto his boat, "Farewell, you strange bunch. I look forward to your future exploits. I expect you three to shake the world."


	11. Nami on the Run

"Well, that was fun." Zoro moaned, pulling himself to his feet, itching his bandages.

"What kind of idiot are you?" Sanji muttered, cleaning more cloth, "We don't even have a ship's doctor, and you go and get yourself torn to shreds. It was obvious he was going to beat you, why didn't you break off?"

"It's a mater of pried." Zoro said simply, "I can't just walk away from him, when there's even the tiniest chance that I'll achieve what I set out to do."

"...I guess." Sanji sighed, "Bunch of reckless idiots all of us. When are we going to get some women aboard to keep our heads cool?"

"I think that'll be our next goal." Zoro said, "We came to the Baratie to get you, and so that I could fight Mihawk." Zoro said, "Next, we're getting Nami."

"Oh Nami! Her name is like the ocean, and you said she's our navigator? Is she a beauty?"

"Probably not." Zoro said, "Some woman able to weather all the crazy nonsense the older Captain's claimed to have gone through would be made of something tough as hell. Not to mention she's a navigator. Brainy and brawny. Barely a girl at all."

"If you weren't half-dead already I'd make you full-dead for that!" Sanji threatened, "You can't go badmouthing women like that!"

"But we haven't even met her yet."

"It's a matter of principle!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow, "Apparently, in the future, we were best friends."

"I'm friends with a thickheaded suicidal misogynist, then?"

"And I'm friends with some kind of prissy blonde lady's man obsessed with playing in the kitchen."

"...You want to fight?" Sanji growled.

"Can you? It took you a long time to deal with that first mate while I took down their Admiral."

"You and Usopp." Sanji said, "And I think I remember someone whining about refusing to fight people with bombs, eh? What a loser."

"Hey! I can't exactly cut... a bomb..." Zoro became quiet, thinking, "Just like you can't redirect a bullet with one movement."

"Hm?"

"Come on, I need to train."

"Oh, hell no. You're staying in this bed until you stop leaking red onto anything that comes within a foot of you."

"No, no, it won't be strenuous or anything. I just need you to throw things at me, and I'll try to redirect them with as little motion as possible."

"...Only a little motion?"

"I've only got the one sword." Zoro said, "And Mihawk was talking about grace- I'm strong. But not graceful. Maybe... to be the best you need to be both."

"...Then sure. I won't mind throwing things at your stupid face for a few hours."

* * *

The Krieg Pirates had been a successful group for a long time in the East Blue, and Luffy had been sure to help themselves to as much as they wanted of the galleon's treasure while they were aboard. He didn't think Sanji took anything, not wanting to insult Gin, but everyone else had essentially helped themselves during the few hours they had spent waiting in the cave for Mihawk. It was Usopp's first real act of piracy!

Well, kind of. Stealing already stolen goods.

As the day rolled on, Usopp found himself missing the cave. The day's sun was harsh enough that the entire ship was too warm for comfort, especially inside.

Usopp worked the lever, slowly changing Merry's direction. He glanced back down at the book, at the piece of paper in the pocket labeled "NAMi" in scribbled pen.

On the same page was his own card. It had long stopped moving, running into the side of the clear pocket closest to him, and staying there. It was a little creepy, but he saw the convenience of it.

When a boat came into the distance, and saw it turn towards them, instead of hurrying in the opposite direction, as people often do when seeing a vessel with the skull and crossbones gunning for them, he had a feeling they would have some trouble.

"Uh, Luffy?"

"Yeah?" asked one of his captains, hopping off his claimed seat on the figurehead of the Merry.

"Ship ahead!"

"Oh! OH!" Luffy grinned widely, "Oh my God! We caught up with her! And so soon, too!" Luffy bounced up and down, excited, "We took longer than we thought, but we're finally here Nami!" he shouted, but she was out of ear-shot.

Usopp narrowed his eyes, taking in the young red-headed girl- who suddenly collapsed. "Luffy! She's in trouble!"

"No she's not." Luffy said with a smile, "If she were in real trouble her card would show that."

"But she collapsed! It's probably sunstroke or something."

"Nah, she's too smart for something like that. Don't worry about it. EVERYONE ON DECK!" Luffy cried. Usopp winced at the sheer volume, before turning the Merry towards the smaller ship, so that it would pass by its side.

"Did we finally catch her?" Zoro asked.

"Is she beautiful?" Sanji asked instead.

"I can't wait to meet her!" Lu said, as the group lined up on the edge of the Merry that would be facing Nami's smaller craft. "Ah! Is she dead!?"

"No, no, she's fine." Luffy said, confident, "If she wasn't in good shape, her Vivre Card would be smoldering. Bring the ship around! We have someone to welcome aboard!"

As the Merry approached, Luffy waved to the girl, "Usopp, be ready to turn the ship around. We want to be out of here pretty soon. It's going to start storming."

"More future knowledge?" Sanji asked.

"Kind of! But this is less predicting the weather, and being able to predict someone who can predict the weather." Luffy said, looking down, "Heeeeyyy! Need any help?!"

"T-To think, that someone would come across me on this vast ocean..." Nami muttered, sounding weak, "Could you spare some water? Maybe some shade? I've been trapped out in this sun for far too long, and I'm so weak..."

"You asking to come aboard?" Luffy asked, shifting from side to side, excited, "We're pirates, you know! Most people would be too frightened!"

"I'm close to death, I might as well take my chances, right? Besides... some pirates can be good people." she said gently, giving a soft smile up at the gathered group.

"Ack!" Sanji clutched at his chest, "Good work Captain!" he hissed quietly, before leaping down into the boat, "Don't you worry about anything my lady! Don't you dare leave our sick bay until you feel properly back to full health! Anything you want to eat or drink, I'll fix it up for you!"

"Th-Thank... you..." she whispered, before seemingly fainting. Sanji picked her up lightly, before leaping off the rim of Nami's craft, leaping to the deck of the Going Merry.

Luffy smiled widely, watching Sanji carry her into the sickbay. Deciding she was out of earshot, he said "All right! Tie her ship to ours, and start us- um," he looked up at the sky, "...Usopp, which direction was Nami's ship heading?"

"Uh, South, Luffy."

"Then we're heading North! I want us out of here before her storm hits."

Usopp raised an eyebrow, as Zoro sighed, "You are going to explain why, right? Soon?"

"Sure! But not until we've convinced her to be our Navigator!"

Lu smiled, "Should we tell her the whole truth right away?"

"No, not yet." Luffy said, "She's not going to trust any of us an inch until we get to her hometown."

"And she'd be willing to take us there?" Zoro asked, "Even when she doesn't trust us?"

"Shishishi~" Luffy said, smiling evilly, "We'll follow her there when she escapes with our treasure!"

"What?!" came three cries.

"Shhh!" Luffy hissed, "Not so loud! Just trust me, I know Nami. She's not someone you can convince of anything. You need to earn her trust."

Zoro narrowed his eyes, glaring at the small medical room where Nami and Sanji were currently, "What kind of woman did you let on board our ship, Captain?"

"She's a thief who hates pirates!" Luffy said with a grin, "And she's going to be our Navigator!"

* * *

The blonde one, an idiot she could tell, had finally stopped hanging around, leaving to get her something to drink and eat. That had been some jumping ability earlier, so it wouldn't do to get caught by him. He also hadn't taken advantage of anything, not trying to cop a feel while she was unconscious, not trying to peek under her clothes or anything.

He didn't even frisk her for weapons.

A gentleman, she supposed, but those were the most easily manipulated people. Silently and gracefully moving from the medical bed she inched to the window, giving it only a brief glance, noting no one was directly in front of it.

A ship this small couldn't have too many people. Less than a dozen, likely. It was cute, almost, such a shame it was a pirate's ship.

She opened the door a crack, listening. The pirates seemed to be clustered around the oldest man in the crew, arguing about something. It was weird, if she didn't know better, and had her life threatened by thirteen-year olds with guns before, she would have found it suspicious that every crew member she noticed seemed to be under twenty. She sneaked out of the room, darting for the entrance to the interior of the ship.

She grinned, wide, once she stumbled upon a room filled with bags and more than a few chests. The treasure room! Unfortunately the amount was a problem. It was rare for her to wish there was less money, especially since, if she estimated it, the amount here was nearly a sixth of the remaining amount she needed to gather to buy back Cocoyashi. If she could make away with all of it, she'd be just that much closer to getting her home back from the shark. The issue was that it was too much to carry. Definitely too much to sneak onto her little boat.

She would need to steal the ship, then.

Plan A had been 1) Trick them into letting her aboard, 2) Find the treasure, 3) Sabotage the pirate ship, 4) Get the treasure onto the boat, 5) Get out of range, 6) Let the storm finish them off and capsize the pirates.

That was right out.

And so she needed Plan B. It was more or less the same, except that now she needed to get the pirates off their ship and onto her own- or simply into the water in enough time for the storm to hit.

She built her staff, and began to listen from below. She would need to ambush each one, and knock them out or throw them overboard all at once. Now... how to go through with this?

"Having fun?"

"Eeek!" She jumped backwards, nearly tipping over into the bag of money, before a hand grabbed her arm and stopped her in time, "You scared me, you jerk!" she snapped, pulling her hand free, before looking over her shoulder at the money. She was caught red-handed, huh? "Now, I know how this seems, but I assure you, I was just looking! I was looking for a drink, and got turned around."

"Shishishi~" the pirate laughed, making a wide innocent grin, "Well that's good, you know what I would have had to do if you were stealing from us?"

"Uh... what would you do?"

"I'd have to decrease your commission!"

"C-Commission?"

"Well, yeah!" Luffy said, "I'd like to hire you."

"I'm... not interested in being a pirate." Nami said, allowing herself to be a little harsh.

"Don't worry, for now, I won't push it!" Luffy said, "But since you were trying to bait us into sailing into that storm that's going to show up-" Nami froze, "-I know you must be one hell of a Navigator, right?"

"I'm... no, I promise, I didn't bait you-"

"It's fine! Really, honestly, I'm just so happy to find you!" Luffy said, and Nami could have sworn he was holding back tears, "We're clueless without you, you know? Without a navigator, I mean, we're all a bunch of orientation-blind idiots out here just wandering with the wind. You're a lifesaver!" Luffy walked past her, into the treasure room, looking over the bags, "Oh! Here we are, let's see..." he picked up one of the bags, and shook it, "Yeah, that feels about right. I'm not sure exactly how much is in this one- I haven't bothered checking yet, but you can have it if you'll be our navigator for just a little while!"

"..." Nami bit her lip, trying to think through the situation, "So... you know I'm a thief, and tried to get you caught in a storm at sea, and lied to you... but you need my help that badly?"

"Zoro can get lost on a straight path, imagine how well he does at sea? And my brother and I are barely any better! Usopp and Sanji have some common sense when it comes to directions and staying on a correct course, but they have their own skills, and neither will be anywhere as good as you."

"...Fine! But this is a temporary thing, got it? And that bag better not be any lighter by the time we're ready to split ways!"

"Got it!"

* * *

"Crew! This is our navigator, Nami!" Luffy announced, "She's a thief, so be wary! But she'll get us where we need to go before she betrays us, right?"

"Y-You're just telling them!?" Nami asked, shocked, "What if they gang up on me?!"

"Then I'd kick their asses!" Sanji threatened, deadly serious, "You'll have nothing to fear, Nami-Swan!"

Usopp let out a weak laugh, "I've only got pocket change, really! Don't bother stealing from me."

"The only thing I have on me are my swords." Zoro growled, "And if you try to steal those, you'll lose a hand."

"Shut your mouth! Did you just threaten her?!" Sanji growled right back, "Moss-haired bastard, you can't talk to a lady like that!"

"Well I won't hurt her if she doesn't touch my swords, I'm just saying-"

"Don't worry!" Lu interrupted, stepping between the cook and the swordsman, pushing them apart and putting an arm around each shoulder, "We're harmless, Captain's promise!"

"I... Are you sure you're pirates?" Nami asked, turning to Luffy, "Because none of you act remotely like pirates."

"Aw, don't be mean. We're going to be giving you treasure and everything!"

"Ugh, fine. Where do you want to go?"

"There's an island that I want to visit, it'll only be a quick trip."

* * *

"Let me get this straight." Nami began.

"Okay."

"It's a small, isolated, uninhabited island."

"Yes. Kind of. There's a person living on it."

"And the only distinguishing marks you can remember is that there are... two or three big stone pillars that rise above the tree line."

"Yes."

"And it's 'nearby the island Buggy attacked'."

"Yeah."

"That's almost nothing! How am I supposed to find an island just going by that! Do you know how many islands speck the East Blue! We could be searching for years, find a dozen islands that match that description, and still have none of them be the right one! I'm not a miracle worker, you know!" Nami cried, grabbing her head in frustration.

"Sure you are!" Luffy said, "Come on, or don't you want the treasure?"

"Ugh! I can take you to the island that Buggy recently attacked- you don't know its name but you know Buggy attacked it, huh? I was there, recently, so I know what you're looking for. But I can't guarantee anything besides that."

"It's fine. The guy on the island- well, he'll be fine, I think, if he stays the way he is, but I'd feel sad if I did nothing about it."

"Why, what's going on there?"

"Well- nah. You wouldn't believe me."

"Try me."

"Yeah? Alright here goes: I'm from the future, and a Devil Fruit User sent me four years into the past, to here!"

"..."

"That's just the start! Anyway, four years ago- around this time, I went to a little abandoned island. On it were a bunch of weird animals, and a man who had been stuck in a treasure chest for twenty years. He was staying on the island trying to guard the treasure that had been hidden there... only the treasure was gone long before he had ever showed up. I showed him, and he decided to stay on the island, to protect the animals there."

"..."

"Well?"

"..."

"Look, just take us there and I'll show you! Once I prove I'm right, I can tell you something even crazier, okay?"

* * *

"I told you we could find it." Luffy said, smug, sitting in the empty kitchen with her. Sanji and Zoro were outside, beginning Zoro's 'gracefulness' training, and making plenty of noise. They would have some privacy among the locked cabinets.

Nami sighed, "You're just lucky asking around at the village about an 'island with weird animals' actually meant something to them."

Gaiman's island was already disappearing in the distance. It really only had been a short trip. He had just wanted to check in on the man, and let his hopes down easy. To his surprise, Lu asked him to join the crew, the same as he had the first time. And again, Gaiman chose to stay and protect the unique creatures of the island.

"So, you said you'd tell me something even crazier if I found the island, right?"

"Yep! Oh! And before I forget, here." Luffy said, grabbing one of the treasure bags. "This is yours. Keep it wherever you want."

"Don't worry, I wasn't about to let you forget." Nami said, hugging the treasure bag to herself.

"Well- I'm from the future."

"You told me that already... and while that stuff with Gaiman was creepily accurate, it still doesn't really tell me anything. You could have passed by before and seen him."

"I sailed for four years, and gathered a crew... and you were a member of that crew, Nami."

"Ha! Well I know you're lying now, I hate pirates."

"Nami, I know about Arlong." she froze, turning a hateful glare on him, "We sailed together for a little while, you and me and Zoro, then we helped Usopp, and met Sanji... and you stole our ship and our treasure and left us behind. But I knew you were the one I wanted for our crew! So we followed you, all the way to the Conomi islands."

"Shut up."

"And I met Arlong, and I beat Arlong."

"Hah! That's even funnier, Arlong's too powerful, no one can beat him." Nami pulled her arms across her chest, "No one can beat him, Luffy. He's too strong, too dangerous, too ruthless. All you can hope to do is work around him. Work with him, make it his best interest to not hurt you..."

Luffy felt the anger boiling in his gut all over again, "I won't let him hurt you again. You were one of my nakama, before. Our brilliant navigator, the backbone of the crew." Luffy said, "And I'll never be able to forgive Arlong and his pirates for what they did to you."

"You're obviously delusional." She muttered, standing up. "I'm bringing my treasure to my boat, and I'll be leaving."

"Are you heading back to Cocoyashi?"

She flinched, "Who told you about me, huh? Was it Arlong? Is this some kind of test to make sure I'm not trying to send assassins against him? Because I'd never do anything, to endanger my deal with him."

"One-hundred million Beli in exchange for the village, right?" Luffy said, "Nami, trust me. If you'll let us, we can beat Arlong, and Cocoyashi will be free."

"You don't know anything about me! Time travel is so outlandish it's stupid!" Nami said.

"I know you're the best navigator in the world, you can smell the air and know when and where the wind will go and storms will form. I know you love mikans and money more than anything else! I know people call you a witch, but you're actually really selfless when it comes to people in trouble! You're super nice to kids, and you think there's nothing more beautiful and strong than a reliable female marine! No matter what vehicle you're driving, you can handle it better than anyone else!"

Nami stared at him, beginning to tear up.

"You're dream is to make a map of the whole world. You want to make maps meant for you, for explorers, for Marines. You want to bring the world closer together, and visit every ocean in the world! And I'm so sorry that I was only able to take us through two of them before you died."

Luffy was crying now, too, "How... how do you know any of this?"

"Because I know you! The same way I know everyone on our crew." Luffy said, "In my world, Arlong made you cry, so I made him pay. You decided to join us despite that we were pirates, and you got a new tattoo, and it wasn't of our flag, or anything, it was a tattoo of a pinwheel and a mikan! You brought a little grove of trees and we put them on the Merry, and moved them onto the Sunny, and Sanji guarded them from me and the rest of the crew whenever we got too hungry. And you took us into the Grand Line and saved all our lives a thousand times!"

The two stared at each other, for a time, not sure how to go forward from that.

"...This whole story is crazy, you know that?"

"The Grand Line is crazy." Luffy said, "Shishishi~ when we do get to the One Piece, we'll have to visit all the other Blues too. I've only ever been in the Grand Line and the East Blue. I almost forgot we still had so much world to explore. Hah! Nami, in a way, your dream is bigger than the rest of ours, huh?"

"...For some reason I actually believe all this nonsense." Nami said, shocked, "But why you? How did we even first meet?"

"Well, me and Zoro fought Buggy the Clown with you! Shishishi~, you told Buggy I was your boss, and that I told you to steal the map, then you tied me up and Buggy put me in a cage. And then Buggy told you to kill me, and you couldn't do it, even though I was just a pirate!"

"..."

"You burned your hands, putting out that cannon fuse to save me, and risked your life before Zoro showed up and saved both of us."

"That never happened!" Nami said.

"Yep. Me and Lu- he's the me from this world, four years younger." Luffy pointed at his hat, and then to the scar below his eye, "Because we're both here, instead of just being one of me, things are kind of different! I never saw the bird that carried me to the island you were on!"

"...I guess that makes 'sense' for the definition of 'sense' we're using." the navigator sighed, "This is a lot to take in, Luffy."

"I guess it is." the pirate said with a grin, "Let's sleep on it, okay?"

"Yeah. Let's sleep on it."

* * *

"Hey Sanji?" Nami asked, smiling.

"Yes, my dear?" he asked, whipping around towards the door, pans in both hands, in the middle of cooking up dinner for them all.

"Do you think you could go fetch my journal from the crow's nest? I was reading it up there and left it behind. I'd go myself, but I got a blister from climbing them earlier today. You can practically just jump up, right?"

"Right away my lady, no problem at all! Your knight is here to help you in any way he can!" he quickly turned on the food preparations, putting everything on a lower heat, making sure nothing was in a critical stage, before he shot out of the kitchen.

The moment he was gone, she reached into her blouse, drawing a bottle of medicine. Sanji had a discerning taste- but according to the bottle, the sleeping potion should dissolve tastelessly in your meal. 'Nine hour rest guarantee'.

She tipped it into the soup, before returning the bottle to her blouse, "Sorry guys." she said quietly.

"Nami?" Sanji asked, walking back in, "I found your journal!"

"Oh, thank you! And everything just smells delicious Sanji, I can't wait for dinner."

"Why thank you!" the cook said, blushing proudly, "I'll remember this is a favorite then! I'll make it any time you ask in the future!"

"In the future, huh?" she asked herself, waving to Sanji as she exited the kitchen.

* * *

Usopp took first shift that night. Up in the crow's nest, he looked out over the mostly-empty dark seas. The ocean at night was still a little creepy to him, despite being on the crew for a little bit. For some reason he couldn't understand, it was practically impossible for him to keep his eyes open. This wasn't his first time doing the night watch- maybe he was catching something. You got tired when you got sick, right?

He was watching the ocean, and didn't notice what was happening until she came for him.

The sound of rope straining was enough for him to tear his eyes from the telescope and look down at the rigging he had used to climb up to the lookout spot to begin with. Nami was halfway, up, a rope with a loop tied into it at her side.

"Uh, Nami? What are you doing awake?"

She gave him a winning smile, "Oh you know, just practicing."

"Practicing whaaaAAAA-" he choked off as the loop found itself around his throat and she pulled down "Erggkkh!"

She expertly looped the rope as he fell, tying him up not just around his neck, but tying his whole body, before whacking him in the stomach, sending him falling through the open air.

"I'm gonna die!" he cried out into the night, before he hit the water with a hard splash. He floated up to the surface, coughing and spluttering, "Luffy! Ack, no wait, he can't swim! Zoro! Sanji! Help!"

"Sorry Usopp!" Nami shouted helpfully back at him, scaling down the rigging, "Everyone's too sleepy, right now. But don't worry, this area doesn't have too many sharks, and it's going to be gentle, smooth, warm waters all night. Everyone will wake up in a few hours, and they'll be able to untie you just fine." she smiled, "Be sure not to get too pushy on my boat! There's not much room for all five of you!"

"Wait- your boat?!"

Nami sighed, "It's a shame. Really, you guys were growing on me... and I think I might actually believe in what your captain was talking about. But they're wrong. Whatever let them 'pay back' Arlong had to be a fluke... and if things don't happen exactly the same in this world as Luffy's I can't let you throw your lives away on that chance... besides, if we ultimately all die on the Grand Line, except for Luffy, it probably wasn't the right decision for us to go, was it?"

"Nami! Come on, please! Just trust us!"

"Sorry guys, our little misadventure was fun, and I wish you luck. Thanks for the ship!" she waved off to him, and Usopp struggled against the bonds and wiggled in the seawater, trying to somehow break free and swim after her.

"Darn it!"

The caravel shrunk and shrunk, getting nearly out of sight, before Usopp felt a familiar hand grab his shoulder and pull him onto Nami's boat. Sanji, Lu, and Zoro were laid in the center of it, snoring deeply.

Luffy was wide-awake, a sad smile on his face.

"Luffy!" Usopp said, close to tears, as his captain began working at the knots, "She stole the ship!"

Luffy sighed, "Yep. But don't worry, we'll get them back."

"Them?"

"Nami and Merry. Don't worry Usopp, not a thing will happen to them." Luffy promised, snapping the ropes and freeing his sniper, before handing him an oar. "I won't let it."


	12. Challenging Arlong!

Nami approached the East Gate, her face set. As she pushed through, she forced her face into an easy smile.

"Our precious cartographer's returned early! Get a big haul Nami?"

"I have, Arlong." she said while grinning, "Group of weirdos calling themselves pirates, but utterly willing to allow me on-board with perfect trust I wouldn't do anything to them."

"Hah! Humans, eh? Well, not you, Nami, but really, you were fortunate to come across pirates so trusting." the massive fishman grinned wide, "After all, fishmen would be far more cautious of betrayal, you know?"

"Of course." Nami said, "Which is why I'd never dare betray you." she walked past Arlong, heading, with hidden reluctance, to her cartography room, "I'll pass up on the 'welcome back' feast for now, the pirates had an excellent cook. They poached him from a high-class restaurant. For now, I just want to update a few of my maps, I noticed an island I didn't have the chance to see before."

"A dedicated worker, through and through. Welcome back Nami." Arlong said, putting a webbed hand on her shoulder. She froze, a shiver going down her spine, she knew the sheer power hidden inside that grip. But he didn't even leave his hand there for a full second, and the danger passed. She continued onward into the mansion, and up the stairs.

* * *

"Row! Row! Row! Row! Row!"

"Usopp, if you don't stop that, I'm tying you up again." Zoro growled, handling one of the four oars. Usopp, fortunately acknowledged as the physically weakest member of the crew, had gotten out of rowing, and had been put in charge of handling the Vivre Card Journal, keeping an eye on the movements of Nami's scrap of paper, and keep them on course.

"Poor Nami-Swan, forced to live under those horrible pirates!" Sanji mourned, "Luffy, how long until we get there?"

"Shouldn't be too long. We're less than an hour, behind her, I think. Two hours behind her at most." Luffy replied, "I wasn't expecting sleeping potion! I thought she would just get us close to the edge and knock us off! Shishishi~"

"I would have died!" Lu said, shocked.

"Nami's too gentle for that, Lu." Luffy said.

"She wasn't too gentle when she flung me into the ocean by the neck." Usopp muttered, "Not a single speck of mercy anywhere inside her."

"Don't badmouth Nami! She's obviously dealing with a lot of pressure, needing to save her village from terrifying fishmen." Sanji shook his head, "To think, that the paradise of fishman island could have such a dark side."

Luffy frowned, looking off to the side, "You don't know the half of it. But Jimbei's a good guy. And so is the Mermaid Princess-"

Sanji dropped his oar, suddenly at Luffy's chest, grabbing him by the shirt, "Mermaid princess?!"

"Um." Luffy began, surprised at the serious expression on Sanji's face.

"...I can't believe it slipped my mind, you also met Boa Hancock, didn't you!" Sanji said, his voice sounding almost haunted, "How!? How do you know both of them!?"

"Um, well, I met Hancock when Kuma- one of the Warlord's of the Sea, hit me so hard I went flying through the air for days."

"Oh my god." Usopp muttered, "How did we find you?"

"Well, he did it to all of us. We ended up on different islands, and I decided we should spend two years training before we got back together and set off for the New World."

"Oh my god." Usopp repeated, "Did we ever do anything that wasn't horribly dangerous and insane?"

"We went to a spa once." Luffy said, "It started raining edible jewels."

"You made that one up!" Usopp cried, "You had to!"

Luffy smiled.

"Damn it! Kaya will never believe a single one of my adventure stories! It'll all be even crazier than the ones I made up for her!"

" **Empress Boa Hancock.** " Sanji all but growled, "Don't get distracted!"

"Distracted, who's the one who stopped rowing, huh?" Zoro asked.

"Shut up mosshead, this is important!" Sanji declared.

"Well, Kuma sent me flying, and I eventuallly crashed on an island on the Calm Belt, this island was called Amazon Lily."

"...You lucky bastard! Where was I sent?!"

"You didn't like to talk about it. You described it as Hell."

"Damn it!" Sanji roared, "Well, go on!"

"Well, I was found by an amazon named Marguerite, who saved me after I ate a poisonous mushroom. Oh! This was before Impel Down, so I wasn't immune to everything yet. Anyway, apparently men aren't allowed on the island, so I was to be punished. Because Marguerite helped me, Hancock was going to punish her and her friends too. She turned them all to stone, and it was only after I beat a panther and fought her sisters that she turned them back to normal. Hancock was kind of mean, before she decided to help me."

"..." Sanji didn't know what to make of that.

"Anyway, as for the Mermaid Princess, her name is Shirahoshi, and she was a big crybaby, even though she was a giant!"

"She's... giant?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah! She was huge, her eyes were bigger than my head, and her tail was almost as long as our mast!"

"But she's beautiful, right? Eye-wateringly beautiful?"

"Sure, she's cute." Luffy said, "You told me she was beautiful as the rumors, at least. You almost told us to leave you on Fishman Island!"

"Ah! I want to go!"

"Shouldn't we save Nami first? We're definitely going to go anyway!" Lu chided.

"Right! Nami-Swan's in danger!" Sanji said, getting back on his seat, "Let's go!"

"Don't sound so determined when you were the one delaying us, cook." Zoro muttered, but Sanji ignored him, focusing on rowing.

* * *

When they came within sight of the shoreline, and Arlong Park, Luffy's normally relaxed expression shifted to a constant glare, filled with utter contempt for the mansion.

The change in mood quietly diffused among the crew, they became solemn as they came closer and closer to the shoreline. "Do you want to go charging right in, Captains?" Zoro asked.

Lu nodded vigorously, "Let's beat these guys and get Nami back!"

"No."

The others looked to Luffy.

"Nami's inside the mansion right now, right?" Luffy asked Usopp, who looked back to the journal.

"Probably. That, or she's somewhere on the island directly behind the mansion."

Luffy reached out, and Usopp handed it to him. Taking the book, and holding it at an angle he watched the piece of paper's movements closely, "She's in the _room_." Luffy said, angry.

"We should go right in and rescue her then!"

"I'm afraid they'll try to use her as a hostage." Luffy said, "Besides, it wouldn't feel right to tear down everything with her right there. I want her to ask us for help."

"Ask us- but she can't! She's so afraid of him that she was willing to run back to him even knowing we beat him the first time!"

"She was strong enough to ask the first time. She's strong enough." Luffy said, "We're going to talk first."

"...Talk?"

"I'm going to tell Arlong to go back to Fishman Island." Luffy said, "And tell him to apologize to Jimbei! To go back to the Fishman District and try to talk some sense into them."

"...You want Arlong to... talk sense into people?"

"They idolize him there." Luffy said with a sigh, "The kids at least. It was a whole thing, that nearly got Shirahoshi killed. I slept through most of the story, but Jimbei's a good guy. If Arlong and him made up... well, either way, I'm absolutely alright with kicking his ass, if Nami wants us to. I'm going to kick his ass either way, probably!" Luffy said, "But I'm just thinking ahead here. Fishman Island was under our protection, before. I want what's best for it. After you all died... Neptune and Shirahoshi and the rest all really helped me out. They kept me from... well, I want to make things easier for them if I can. If I can force Arlong to do a little good with his life, I might as well."

Lu raised his eyebrows in surprise, before letting out a sigh, "Fine! We'll talk to them, and talk to Nami too. Usopp, take Zoro and go look for the Going Merry!"

"Aye-aye Captain." Usopp said, "Wait, are you telling us to just swim for shore? In an ocean filled with Fishmen?"

"Me and big Luffy need the boat or we'll drown!" Lu clarified.

"Why not send Sanji with us too, then?" Usopp asked.

"We need him in case the fishmen get us into the water! He's the best swimmer." Luffy announced.

"I was just going to keep him with us because I thought he would really want to see Nami's all right. Zoro and Usopp are still mad at her, right?" Lu said.

"Damn right I'm mad! She strangled me right into the ocean!"

"See?""

"Well either way, Sanji, you're with us."

At that moment, however, their discussion was interrupted by the sudden presence of a gigantic Sea Cow.

"A-A-ahhhhh!" Usopp screamed.

The other four simply turned their gazes on the creature, not appreciating how it was interrupting their rescue plan.

Mohmoo the Sea Cow roared, expecting more of a reaction, before Lu's fist sailed out, landing a solid punch directly to the center of the beast's forehead. Mohmoo was pushed back, before it growled and dove for the small ship, intent on sinking it. Sanji took off into the air, before landing on Mohmoo's head, raising his leg menacingly. "I wonder, will you taste like fish, or beef?"

It was at this point that Mohmoo realized it had made a mistake.

* * *

Zoro and Usopp were ferried to shore on the sea-beast's back, while the two captains and their cook rowed their way towards Arlong Park.

"Halt!" commanded a fishman, once they came within a hundred feet of the sea entrance. The fishman, a green-skinned rotund fellow, sneered at them, "This is Arlong's territory, you know that right? You're pretty brave to be sailing so close in such a flimsy boat."

Sanji raised a cigaretter to his lips and took a deep breath of it, before blowing smoke out in a stream, "Well Captains, you wanted to talk, right? And give Nami the chance to ask before we destroy all of this... how diplomatic are we feeling here?"

Luffy frowned, thinking, when Lu decided to answer.

"What, like out of ten?" Lu asked.

"Sure."

"Like a three."

"I can do a three." Sanji said, smirking. One moment, he was there, the next he was on the fishman's head, his shoe buried firmly in the man's hair.

"Ghuhaah!" the fishman grunted in pain, being sent skidding back through the water when Sanji kicked off his head. A shiny bald spot was left behind by his shoe.

"Start rowing!" Luffy shouted, pumping the oar.

"Got it!" Lu shouted right back, pushing it as hard as he could. The boat practically went flying over the water, the powerhouses slapping the boat out of the sea with each forward stroke, only to crash back in when they raised their oars on the back stroke. The boat careened forward, out of control, shooting toward the secondary gate. Luffy reared back a fist and with a punch not only opened the metal doors, but knocked them clean free of their hinges, sending them crashing into the water directly in front of the mansion.

Lu took over Luffy's oar, and just kept going as hard as he could. The boat shot past the entryway and slammed directly into the white stone of the mansion's front patio.

Both users of the Gum Gum fruit leaped into the air, letting the wooden boat smash into smithereens against the stone, before landing together in front of Arlong's front door. Sanji arrived soon after, emerging from the pool, carrying the now-unconscious fishman lookout over his shoulders.

"That's about a three, right?"

"Sure." Lu answered. Sanji dropped the body on the stone patio, and watched as Luffy knocked on the door.

Chew opened the door, "What the hell do you want?" the smelt-whiting fishman asked.

Luffy narrowed his eyes, "I want to speak with Arlong. Tell him it's about Jimbei. And it's about Nami."

Chew sneered, "Bringing up that man's name up is kind of dangerous around these parts. Human."

"Just tell him." Luffy ordered, and something about the tone made Chew no hesitate any further. He closed the door behind him. Soon enough, the door opened once more, and Arlong stepped out.

"Well, what do we have... here." he said, taking in the sight of the unconscious lookout, "What do you think you just did to my crewmate?"

"Go back to Fishman Island, Arlong." Luffy said, "I want you to make things up to Jimbei, and stop hurting Nami's village!"

"You talk a big talk for some random human, what's Jimbei to you?"

"He's someone I respect." Luffy said, "And he used to be your Nakama, right? What are you doing in the East Blue?"

The saw-nosed shark fishman growled, "You've got a lot of balls to speak to me like this, human. Before I rip you to shreds, though, why did you bring up my cartographer?"

Luffy grimaced, "Just tell her we want to know where our ship is. And that we want to talk to her."

Arlong stopped laughing, "Oh? And are you planning on getting revenge then? Why would I send my crew mate into the hands of someone she's wronged?"

"I promise, I'll never hurt her." Luffy said, "We just want to talk."

"...Fine. You're too dumb to lie properly. For making me laugh, I'll be merciful just this once, get out of Arlong Park."

"Fine!" Luffy shouted back, turning his back on the fishman. "Come on guys, Nami's safe."

Sanji and Lu glared at Arlong as well, but followed Luffy as he led them out of the estate.

"Crazy humans." Arlong muttered.

Luffy stopped, his hands curling into fists, "NAMI!" he roared, hard enough to shake the building, "COME BACK TO US! IF YOU NEED HELP, JUST ASK!" Arlong clapped his webbed hands over his ears and winced, glaring at the three humans, and Luffy made direct eye contact, "We're coming back tomorrow." Luffy said to Arlong, "If you know what's good for you, you'll be heading back to the Grand Line by then!"

Arlong sneered, "You talk big, for such a little fish in a small pond."

Luffy raised an eyebrow, "You don't even know how much of a hypocrite you are, do you?"

The three humans left.

* * *

A shiver went down her spine, as she watched the Monkey Brothers and Sanji reluctantly leave the park from the little room above Arlong Park. Those idiots! She cursed them in her head, how stupid could they be? To follow her all this way, to fight Arlong even after she told them it was suicide, to... offer her help... to come back... even though she betrayed... them...

She began to cry, slinking down on the cot in the room she hated more than anywhere else in the world. Even the front lawn where Belle-Mere had been shot in front of her had good memories along with the bad. But this room...

No happiness happened here. And there would be no happiness tonight.

She closed her eyes, and tried to focus on simply falling asleep, when she instinctually jumped to attention, wincing at the sound of each heavy footstep coming up the stairs to her room. Those footsteps haunted her nightmares.

Pulling the blanket off, she walked to the doorway and opened it before Arlong could push his way in, "Arlong."

"Nami. I guess those are the idiots you were telling me about? How'd they follow you?"

"I'm... not sure." she said, "I guess the sleeping potion I hit them with wasn't strong enough. I'll use a different brand next time."

"Or... you could have killed them." Arlong suggested, "While they _were_ asleep, you know."

"I don't kill people Arlong." Nami said quietly, "Not even you would make me do that."

"Well, you've never needed to, before." Arlong said. Before looking thoughtfully at the maps around the room, "Which one is of the new island?"

"Oh, uh, that one, there. It was only a minor addition. There's nothing really on the island, but it being there at all affects the current a little."

"Mm." His eyes slid smoothly from the cartography to the cartographer, "I assume you heard that stuff on the patio."

"You'd have to be deaf not to." Nami admitted, "I didn't think they were this idiotic." she sighed, "You want me to talk to them?"

"Take a fishman with you. A strong one." Arlong said, "They beat up the lookout. Knocked him out. He wasn't a good fighter by fishman terms- but he was stronger than ten men, and they fought him in the water." he smiled evilly, "I don't want to lose you, Nami, who knows, they might decide to kidnap you, and that wouldn't do."

"Thanks... for your concern." she managed, "I'll take Hachi," Not only was he the second-strongest of the crew, he was also the easiest to get along with.

"Good. You might as well get a move on. Cause if they come back here tomorrow- I'll murder them. Chew them alive until they're not and spit them back out for Mohmoo, if they come back tomorrow." Arlong said casually, "So if you want your group of naive weirdos to keep their lives, be sure to send them off _tonight."_

* * *

"Poor Nami-Swan, trapped in there with that monster. It makes me furious!" Sanji muttered, his arms crossed.

"I think we should have just beat everyone up!" Lu said, "And then Nami wouldn't have to ask us- she'd know."

"Nami can live the life she wants to." Luffy said, "Well... if she's in danger, we'll go in anyway, but she's... fine. For now. I want her to ask us for help before we help her. She deserves that choice. Otherwise it's just getting forced into the crew that beat your old boss. I want her to be our navigator, but I need her to want to be our navigator too."

"Oi! Luffy, Lu, Sanji!" Usopp called, once they got a good distance from the park, and well on their way over to the town.

"Usopp!" Lu called back, "Nami hasn't come out yet. If she doesn't talk to us before tomorrow, we'll go over and beat everyone up in the morning!"

"Sounds like a plan, Captain." Zoro said, grinning, "What if the witch still doesn't want to join us?"

"She will." Luffy said, "She'll tell us before tomorrow."

"Well, if you say so." Usopp said, "Now... about the Merry."

"Did you find it?"

"Kind of." Usopp said, "But it's being guarded by three fishmen. They didn't go after us because we were pretty far away- all they saw was Mohmoo, probably, but I didn't want to fight- er! I mean, seeing as how I'm so powerful, I figured it wouldn't be fair to take care of them all single-handed, and saved them for you guys."

"Got it." Luffy said, "Lead the way then. Have you seen the village?"

"That weird upside-down one?" Usopp asked.

Lu looked interested, "An upside down village? Did everyone walk on their hands?"

"No." Zoro said, "It was abandoned. I think the fishmen did it to warn people off- we're strong enough to turn every house in a village on its head, don't mess with us. That kind of thing."

Lu deflated, "Aw. Well, what should we do until tomorrow?"

"Hmmm." Luffy looked out at the island, "Why don't you guys look for somewhere to stock up on stuff!"

"And what are you going to do?" Sanji asked, suspicious.

"I'm going to free the Merry up of those guards pretty easy. Then I'm going to take a nap on the Merry. I didn't get to sleep last night like you guys, remember?"

"We were only knocked out for a bit!" Zoro grunted.

"Shishishi!"

* * *

Hachi followed Nami down the road, heading vaguely for town. The fishman was never truly comfortable around Nami. She reminded him too much of Koala, way back when. He always felt uncomfortable with the way Arlong and the others sometimes treated her, but what was there to do? Arlong, Kuroobi, and Chew were some of his oldest friends. Close enough that he was willing to even leave Jimbei behind for them. He wasn't going to start telling them off when they bully a human- after the things he had seen done, get done to him by humans... by the Celestial Dragons and their servants... well, Arlong wasn't too bad. At least those he killed to make a point died quick, and those he tortured more-or-less deserved it.

Hachi couldn't say that about most of the humans he became familiar with while growing up.

"So, Nami, these people you stole from, why do you think they want you back?"

"They're idiots." she said, "That's the long and the short of it."

"Then us going to them and telling them to take their ship, leave their treasure, and you, behind, and get far away here and never come back... it won't work, probably?"

She sighed, "They honestly think they can beat Arlong."

"Foolish of them." Hachi commented.

"Ah! There he is!"

"We're saved!"

"Officer Hachi!"

The three fishman seemed overjoyed to see the two of them coming. Nami looked at the bundle of poorly-tied rope and the three fishman that had been captured. She could undo the knots with a moment, she knew, but whoever was doing the poor knots knew that too, and had made up for it by tying the ropes together in bizarre and haphazard ways, with dozens and dozens of knots. As it was, the three Arlong Pirates were basically tied up from head to toe.

"How the heck did you three end up like that?" Nami asked, annoyed.

"Ah! Hacchan!" Luffy said, dropping from a nearby tree, a wide smile on his face.

"Do we know each other?"

Luffy opened his mouth, before closing it again, thinking deeper. "...No! No we don't know each other."

"But you knew my name!"

"I guessed!" Luffy said, sticking out his tongue.

"Well, that was a very good guess then." the octopus fishman said, believing the lie quite easily.

Nami sighed, "You... know him from... the first attempt, right?" she asked. Time travel made her head hurt.

"Yep! He uh, well... I'll tell you later, when it's just us!"

"There's never going to be 'just us'." Nami said harshly, "I thought poisoning your food and sending you off in a lifeboat sent a clear enough message. You pirates are just prey to me. Victims for me to steal from without guilt." she said, crossing her arms, "Look, I already took all the treasure off the ship, but I left your personal possessions and your food and everything else alone. Take your ship and go."

"Come with me." Luffy said quietly, "Or ask me to help you."

"I won't! Because I don't need help!"

Luffy looked sadly at her, "Nami. I know." he glanced to Hachi, considered it, "We both know I can beat Arlong, right?"

"Maybe by fluke."

His eyebrows went down, angry, "Not by fluke! I was tougher than him- and I'm way tougher than him now. Please come back Nami, I'll tear Arlong Park down, free your town and your family! Just _ask_ me."

She glared at him. "No one's stronger than Arlong." she said quietly.

"Nami. You were stronger than Arlong."

She froze.

"On the first attempt, we became so powerful, all of us. I saw you take on dozens of fishmen by yourself in less than a minute." Luffy looked at Hachi, and with a silent apology, exerted his Haki. Hachi fought it, for a few seconds, before finally being brought down, foam rising from his elongated mouth. Nami stared at her bodyguard. "And Nami... you know it. You believe me."

"No." she said, "No, no, no."

"Nami! Arlong isn't even a small fry! There are thousands- hundreds of thousands, of people who could beat him with one hand behind their back in this terrifying world! And you become one of them."

"Arlong is too powerful-" she repeated, almost a mantra. _Because he has to be._

 _Belle-Mere was the strongest person in the world, to me._

 _And Arlong killed her like she was nothing. And it was my fault. And I betrayed her. And the village hates me. And and and and_

 _If Arlong isn't strong, what was Belle-Mere?_

 _An ant?!_

 _What am I? Luffy's wrong about me._

 _Or the Nami from the first attempt was different than me._

 _She might have been strong, but I-_

 _..._

Nami shook, tears falling from her face, "I don't need your help!" she screamed.

 _I don't deserve it_ , she thought.

Luffy grit his teeth.

"I..." she sobbed, "I..." Luffy sighed, his Haki already giving him an inkling of what was about to happen.

Nami turned, and ran.

* * *

Nojiko looked at the band of pirates with a raised eyebrow. These were definitely out-of-towners. The woman walked up to the group, her eyes narrowed, "You're not from around here, are you? I hope you're not looking for trouble?" Arlong's people had collected their tribute just earlier that day, and most of the townspeople had gone back to their homes for the day, trying to rest from the stress that always came with tribute day.

Sanji, of course, was the first to respond, "Trouble! Of course not, I would never dare to bring a troubled expression to such a gentle face!" before any of them realized it, Sanji was already on Nojiko's other side, spinning slowly on one foot, "Ah! To be greeted by such a flower in this town, you've made my day!"

She smiled just a little, amused, "What the hell are you doing here, anyway?"

"Apparently, to stock up our ship." Usopp said, "Not sure how Luffy expects us to do that when that girl stole all our money."

"Stole... it wouldn't happen to be a girl with bright orange hair, perhaps?" Nojiko asked.

"How did you know?" Lu asked.

"What do you want with her?"

"We want her to join our crew as our navigator! We're pirates." Lu said with a grin, raising his pearl shield and bringing his fist to it, making a ringing sound, "And since she's the best navigator in the world, we have to have her!"

"You don't want anything to do with that girl." Nojiko said coldly, "Not for revenge, and not to go ask her join a crew of pirates. She hates pirates and besides, she's already part of Arlong's crew."

"We're here to save her." Sanji said.

Nojiko looked between them, "Why?"

"Because she's our crewmate. She helped us out already- and she doesn't want to be here." Lu said.

"She's... helped you out already?" Nojiko asked.

"Yeah! She helped us get to an island we hadn't been able to find." Lu said, "And we drank and ate together, and my older brother- well, he knows if you can trust people. And we can trust Nami."

"I beg to differ." Usopp muttered, "Pulling me by the neck like that, I'm going to yell at her, the next time we see her."

"No you won't." Sanji said, just a little threatening in his tone.

Nojiko considered them all, "Why don't you follow me. I'm not sure what we can do without money, but I'll see about stocking up your ship."

* * *

When the group arrived at the house, the moment Nojiko opened the door, she let out a sigh.

"Nami! We have guests, if you would be so kind as to start sweeping up your tantrum?"

Nami looked up from where she was sitting, surrounded in the wreckage of her and Nojiko's house. Nojiko closed the door before she could see who was on the other side.

Nojiko looked to the gathered pirates, and silenced them with a finger to her lips, "Now's probably not the best time. Wait out in the orange field for me?"

Sanji opened his mouth to object, but Lu just nodded, turning in the direction she pointed. "Come on." he ordered, and the crew went. Nojiko went back inside, to see about hearing from Nami everything that had happened.

* * *

Luffy rolled around, grumbling to himself, "I just can't sleep!" he finally announced, getting out of his hammock and heading back out to the deck of the ship. Standing on the deck, he looked out over the island. Things had gone differently... and he wasn't really sure what to do right now. He didn't like asking for details about things- he didn't much care for his crewmate's childhoods or histories. He didn't think it changed anything about them. Nami was Nami was Nami. He didn't need to know the particular why she was crying in the middle of Cocoyashi's marketplace that day, he just knew that she was crying, and Arlong had hurt her.

That was all he needed.

But now he couldn't help wondering why. What was the straw that broke the camel's back? He supposed in the end it didn't really matter. Come tomorrow morning, whether Nami asked him to or not, if Arlong doesn't leave, he will destroy Arlong Park, and offer her a place with the crew again. Convince her somehow. He wouldn't leave without her.

But it felt important that she ask him. Important that she know that she can ask. It was part of what made his Nami, Nami. The Nami he knew... could count on him. This one doesn't know that.

But he couldn't make her ask. And he wouldn't if he could.

He shook the thoughts from his head.

Whatever happened, tomorrow, Nami would be free. That was the important part.

* * *

"She's asleep." Nojiko announced, walking out into the orange field where the pirates had been hanging out, "You boys really stressed her out, you know? My little sister... well, let's just say she's not used to the idea of having friends."

"Your sister? No wonder you're so beautiful." Sanji complimented.

"We're not related by blood." Nojiko said, "But she's my sister all the same. So, pirates... why haven't you whisked her away from here already?"

"Eh!?"

Nojiko raised an eyebrow and put her hands to her hips, "Take her and go, far away from here!"

"I... don't understand." Usopp said, "You'd trust her with us?"

Nojiko smiled warmly, "She's all torn up inside right now... because she wants to go with you, she really does, but she still feels like she has a debt to this village. From what I heard from her in there, you're all idiots who would die without her constant supervision, but you're all good people. Fun people. Honest people." Nojiko sighed, "You boys can't defeat Arlong, no matter how strong your captain is, but you can escape this island. Take my sister away, and give her a life where she can be just a little bit carefree, and laugh sometimes, and I'd be more than satisfied."

Lu smiled, "Well, you're wrong about one thing, we can beat Arlong."

"No." Nojiko said, "You can't."

"Yes, we can."

"You can't."

"WE CAN!"

"Look!" Nojiko said, "Nami really likes you guys, and you can help her out, so I refuse to allow you to throw your lives away." Nojiko bit her lip, looked at the house behind her, and then at the field. "...There's nearly one-hundred million Beli buried in this field. If you take her and leave, without going near Arlong, I'll tell you where it is."

The crew was speechless at the sheer amount of the wealth.

"No." Lu said, recovering first, "Big Luffy said we were going to beat Arlong, and that's what we're going to do!"

"Not even for one-hundred million beli?" Nojiko asked, "How can you be so confident?"

"Simple, really." Zoro said, "Our captain is a veteran from the Grand Line."

"He's still just a human." Nojiko said.

"Nope." Zoro said simply, "He's a monster. Could Arlong take down an entire Marine Base with one punch?" the swordsman smiled, "Because I've seen Luffy do it."

Nojiko's eyes widened, "You're telling the truth."

"Yep!" Lu said cheerfully, "My big brother could fight Warlords of the Sea! Arlong is small fry. The only reason we haven't wrecked Arlong Park already is because he thinks it's important that Nami ask him for help."

Nojiko quieted, thinking, "...What's his name?"

* * *

"Monkey D. Luffy."

Arlong looked up from the newspaper, sneering.

"Did you say something Arlong?" Kuroobi asked, leaving the mansion with a roast pig, to feed to Mohmoo.

"The name of two of the guys that Nami tricked." Arlong said, raising the newspaper, "He and his little brother- same name, maybe, or just a mixup, are wanted by the Marines."

"Oh?" he walked over, picking up the newspaper. "Let's see... Two individuals going by the name "Monkey D. Luffy named themselves as pirates and..." his eyes widened, "Destruction of Shellstown Marine Base?" he asked, surprised, "Huh."

"...Nezumi will be stopping over in two days, won't he?" Arlong asked.

"That's when his ship is scheduled to pass by. We have the bribe set aside for him already."

"Get a message to him that if he gets here by tomorrow, I'll have two gifts for him." Arlong smiled, "We won't even need to give him the bribe. After all, the prestige with capturing two pirates with this kind of bounty will be better for his career than a few hundred thousand beli."

"You really think they won't take the hint?"

"They seemed a special kind of stupid." Arlong said, "They'll be here."

* * *

 ** _WANTED_**

 ** _DEAD OR ALIVE_**

 ** _MONKEY D. "CANNONBALL" LUFFY THE ELDER_**

 ** _30,000,000 Beli_**

* * *

 ** _WANTED_**

 ** _DEAD OR ALIVE_**

 ** _MONKEY D. "STRAWHAT" LUFFY THE YOUNGER_**

 ** _22,000,000 Beli_**


End file.
